series  m 


OF  THE 
UNIVERSITY 

CAZJFOR^ 


The  Land  of  the  Kangaroo. 


TRAVEL   ADVENTURE  SERIES. 


IN  WILD  AFRICA.  The  Adventures  of  Two 
Youths  in  the  Sahara  Desert.  By  Thomas 
W.  Knox.  325  pages,  with  six  illustrations  by 
H.  Burgess.     i2mo.     Cloth.     $1.50. 

THE  LAND  OF  THE  KANGAROO.  The  Ad- 
ventures of  Two  Youths  in  the  Great  Island 
Continent.  By  Thomas  W.  Knox.  350 
pages,  with  five  illustrations  by  H.  Burgess. 
i2mo.     Cloth.     $1.50. 


*#*  Col.  Knox's  sudden  death,  ten  days  after  complet- 
ing "  The  Land  of  the  Kangaroo"  leaves  unfinished  this 
series  of  travel  stories  for  boys  which  he  had  planned. 
The  publishers  announce  that  the  remaining  volumes  of 
this  series  will  be  issued,  although  the  work  will  be  done 
by  another ' s  hand. 

Attnouncemcnt  concerning  the  remaining  volumes  of 
this  series  will  be  made  later. 


■p 


'we  passed  a  ship  becalmed  in  the  doldrums." 


THE 

Land  of  the  Kangaroo. 


ADVENTURES    OF    TWO     YOUTHS     IN    A    JOURNEY     THROUGH 
THE    GREAT    ISLAND    CONTINENT. 


BY 

THOMAS   W.    KNOX. 

AUTHOR    OF    "  IN  WILD  AFRICA,"    "  THE  BOY  TRAVELERS,' 

(l5    VOLS.)     "OVERLAND    THROUGH 

ASIA,"    ETC.,    ETC. 


ILLUSTRATED    BY    H.    BURGESS. 


Boston,  U.  S.  A. 
W.  A.  WILDE   &    COMPANY, 

25  Brom field  Street. 


COPYRIGHT,    1896. 

By  W.  A.  WILDE   &   CO. 

All  rights  reserved. 


THE    LAND    OF    THE    KANGAROO. 


PREFACE. 


The  rapidly  increasing  prominence  of  the  Australian 
colonies  during  the  past  ten  or  twenty  years  has  led  to  the 
preparation  of  the  volume  of  which  this  is  the  preface. 
Australia  has  a  population  numbering  close  upon  five  mil- 
lions and  it  had  prosperous  and  populous  cities,  all  of  them 
presenting  abundant  indications  of  collective  and  individual 
wealth.  It  possesses  railways  and  telegraphs  by  thousands 
of  miles,  and  the  productions  of  its  farms,  mines,  and  plan- 
tations aggregate  an  enormous  amount.  It  has  many  mil- 
lions, of  cattle  and  sheep,  and  their  number  is  increasing 
annually  at  a  prodigious  rate. 

Australia  is  a  land  of  many  wonders,  and  it  is  to  tell  the 
story  of  these  wonderland  of  the  growth  and  development 
of  the  colonies  of  the  antipodes,  that  this  volume  has  been 
written. 

T.  W.  K. 


(£582GI 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER. 
I. 

II. 

III. 

IV. 

V. 

VI. 

VII. 

VIII. 
IX. 

X. 

XI. 

XII. 
XIII. 
XIV. 

XV. 

XVI. 

XVII. 

XVIII. 
XIX. 


WEST   COAST   OF   AFRICA  —  Adventure  in  the  South 

Atlantic  Ocean 1 1 

THE  CAPE  OF  GOOD  HOPE  — The  Southern  Ocean  — 

Australia 2S 

A   LAND    OF    CONTRADICTIONS— Transportation  to 

Australia 49 

STRANGE  ADVENTURES  — Australian  Aboriginals  .  .  67 
ACROSS  AUSTRALIA— Tallest  Trees  in  the  World  .  .  83 
AUSTRALIAN  BLACKS  — Throwing  the  Boomerang  .  .  100 
ADELAIDE    TO    MELBOURXE  —  The    Rabbit   Pest — 

Dangerous  Exotics 115 

CANNIBAL  BLACKS  — Melbourne  and  its  Peculiarities  .  131 
"THE    LAUGHING    JACKASS  "— Australian     Snakes 

and  Snake  Stories 146 

THE  HARBOR  OF  MELBOURNE  — Convict  Hulks  and 

Bushrangers 158 

GEELONG  —  Australian     Gold     Mines — Finding     a    Big 

Nugget 173 

A  SOUTHERLY  BURSTER  — Western  Victoria  ...  190 
JOURNEY  UP  COUNTRY  — Anecdotes  of  Bush  Life  .     .       204 

LOST  IN  THE  BUSH— Australian  Horses 218 

EXPERIENCES  AT  A  CATTLE  STATION  — A  Kan- 
garoo Hunt 233 

HUNTING    THE    EMU    AND    OTHER    BIRDS  —  An 

Australian  Sheep  Run 250 

FROM  MELBOURNE  TO  SYDNEY  — Crossing  the  Blue 

Mountains 269 

SIGHTS  OF  SYDNEY  —  Botany  Bay  and  Paramatta  .  .  2S4 
COAL  MINES  AT  NEWCASTLE— Sugar   Plantation   in 

Queensland  —  The  End 29S 

7 


ILLUSTRATIONS. 


PAGE. 

"We  passed  a  ship  becalmed  in  the  doldrums  "    .         .        Frontispiece.  iS 

"  Harry  had  obtained  a  map  of  Australia  "......  56 

A  visit  to  the  Zoological  Garden      .       .         .         .         .         .         .         .  147 

"  There  they  go !  "  shouted  Mr.  Syme  .......  242 


THE   LAND   OF  THE   KANGAROO. 


CHAPTER   I. 

WEST    COAST    OF    AFRICA ADVENTURE    IN    THE    SOUTH 

ATLANTIC    OCEAN. 

"T  Tl  TE  don't  want  to  stay  long  in  this  place." 

VV  "I    don't    think    we  do,  sir,"   was  the  reply. 

"  The  sooner  we  leave  it,  the  better." 
"  That  is  so,"  said  Harry  ;   "  I  quite  agree  with  you.     I 
wonder  how  white  men  manage  to  live  here  at  all." 

This  conversation  occurred  at  Bonny,  a  trading  station 
on  one  of  the  mouths  of  the  river  Niger  in  Western 
Africa.  In  former  times  Bonny  was  a  famous  resort  for 
slave  traders,  and  great  numbers  of  slaves  were  sent  from 
that  place  to  North  and  South  America.  In  addition  to 
slave  trading,  there  was  considerable  dealing  in  ivory, 
palm  oils,  and  other  African  products.  Trade  is  not  as 
prosperous  at  Bonny  nowadays  as  it  was  in  the  slave-deal- 
ing times,  but  there  is  a  fair  amount  of  commerce  and  the 
commissions  of  the  factors  and  agents  are  very  large. 
Bonny  stands  in  a  region  of  swamps,  and  the  climate  ex- 
hales at  all  times  of  the  year  pestilential  vapors  which  are 
not  at  all  suited  to  the  white  man.  Most  of  the  white 
residents  live  on  board  old  hulks  which  are  moored  to  the 
bank  of  the  river,  and  they  find  these  hulks  less  unhealthy 


12  THE    LAND    OF    THE    KANGAROO. 

than  houses  on  shore,  for  the  reason  that  they  are  less 
exposed  to  the  vapors  of  the  ground. 

The  parties  to  the  conversation  just  quoted  were  Dr. 
Whitney  and  his  nephews,  Ned  and  Harry ;  they  had  just 
arrived  at  Bonny,  from  a  visit  to  Lake  Chad  and  Tim- 
buctoo,  and  had  made  a  voyage  down  the  Niger,  which  has 
been  described  in  a  volume  entitled  "  In  Wild  Africa." 

One  of  the  residents  told  Dr.  Whitney  that  all  the  coast 
of  the  Bight  of  Benin,  into  which  the  Niger  empties  by  its 
various  mouths,  was  quite  as  unhealthy  as  Bonny.  "  We 
don't  expect  anybody  to  live  more  than  three  or  four  years 
after  taking  up  his  residence  here,"  the  gentleman  re- 
marked, "  and  very  often  one  or  two  years  are  sufficient 
to  cany  him  off.  The  climate  is  bad  enough,  but  it  isn't 
the  climate  that  is  to  blame  for  all  the  mortality,  by  any 
means.  The  great  curse  of  the  whole  region  is  the  habit 
of  drinking.  Everybody  drinks,  and  drinks  like  a  fish, 
too.  When  you  call  on  anybody,  the  servants,  without 
waiting  for  orders,  bring  a  bottle  of  brandy,  or  whiskey, 
or  something  of  the  sort,  and  place  it  on  the  table  between 
the  host  and  the  visitor.  You  are  expected  to  drink,  and 
the  man  who  declines  to  do  so  is  looked  upon  as  a  milk- 
sop. When  one  rises  in  the  morning,  his  first  call  is  for 
brandy  and  soda,  and  it  is  brand}^  and  whiskey,  and  cham- 
pagne, or  some  other  intoxicant,  all  the  day  long.  The 
climate  is  bad  enough  without  any  help,  but  the  drinking 
habit  of  the  residents  along  the  Bight  of  Benin  is  worse 
than  the  climate,  and  everybody  knows  it ;  but,  somehow 
or  other,  everybody  is  reckless  and  continues  to  drink, 
knowing  perfectly  well  what  the  result  will  be." 


WEST    COAST    OF    AFRICA.  1 3 

Dr.  Whitney  had  already  made  observations  to  the 
same  effect,  and  remarked  that  he  thought  the  west  coast  of 
Africa  would  be  a  good  field  of  labor  for  an  advocate  of 
total  abstinence.  His  new  acquaintance  replied  that  it 
might  be  under  ordinary  circumstances,  but  that  the  con- 
ditions  of  the  region  where  they  were  were  not  ordinary. 
It  was  necessary  to  remember  that  the  men  who  went  to 
West  Africa  for  purposes  of  trade  were  of  a  reckless, 
adventurous  sort,  having  little  regard  for  the  future  and 
determined  to  make  the  most  of  the  present.  Men  of  this 
class  take  very  naturally  to  habits  of  dissipation,  and  would 
turn  a  deaf  ear  to  any  advocate  of  temperance  who  might 
come  among  them. 

Fortunately  for  our  friends,  the)- were  detained  at  Bonny 
only  a  single  day.  A  small  steamer  which  runs  between 
Bonn)'-  and  Fernando  Po  took  them  to  the  latter  place, 
which  is  on  an  island  in  the  Atlantic  Ocean,  and  has  a 
mountain  peak  ten  thousand  feet  high.  This  peak  is 
wooded  to  the  summit  with  fine  timber,  and  altogether  the 
island  is  a  very  attractive  spot  to  the  eye,  in  comparison 
with  Bonny  and  the  swampy  region  of  the  lower  Niger. 

Port  Clarence,  the  harbor  of  Fernando  Po,  is  said  to  be 
one  of  the  prettiest  places  of  Western  Africa.  The  town 
consists  of  a  group  of  houses  somewhat  irregularly  placed, 
and  guarded  by  a  fort  which  could  be  knocked  down  in  a 
few  hours  by  a  fleet  of  modern  warships. 

Our  friends  went  on  shore  immediately  after  their  arrival, 
and  found  quarters  in  what  Ned  called  an  apology  for  a 
hotel.  Fernando  Po  is  the  property  of  Spain,  and  the 
inland  is  one  of  the  State  prisons  of  that  country.      Some 


H 


THE    LAND    OF    THE    KANGAROO. 


of  the  prisoners  are  kept  in  hulks  in  the  harbor,  while 
others  are  confined  in  the  fort.  Not  infrequently  prisoners 
escape  and  find  shelter  among  the  Adyia,  the  tribe  of 
natives  inhabiting  the  island.  They  are  a  peaceful  people, 
but  have  a  marked  hatred  for  civilization.  They  rarely 
come  into  the  town,  and  none  of  them  will  consent  to  live 
there.  Their  huts  or  villages  are  scattered  over  the 
forests,  and  when  visitors  go  among  them  they  are  kindly 
treated.  The  town  of  Port  Clarence  is  occupied  by  a  few 
white  men  and  a  considerable  number  of  negroes  from 
Sierra  Leone,  Liberia,  and  other  regions  along  the  coast. 

"This  will  be  as  good  a  place  to  get  away  from  as 
Bonny,"  the  doctor  remarked  to  his  nephews,  as  they 
were  strolling  about  Port  Clarence. 

"I  have  observed,'"  said  Harry,  "that  the  wind  is 
blowing  directly  from  the  coast,  and  therefore  is  bring- 
ing with  it  the  malarias  of  the  swampy  region  which  we 
have  just  left." 

"That  is  quite  true,"  the  doctor  answered,  "and  the 
circumstance  you  mention  makes  a  long  stay  here  un- 
desirable. Have  you  noticed  that  many  of  the  natives 
here  seem  to  be  suffering  from  skin  diseases  of  one  kind 
or  another? 

"I  observed  that,"  replied  Ned,  "  and  was  wondering 
what  was  the  cause  of  it." 

"  I  was  told  by  a  gentleman  at  the  hotel,"  said  the  doc- 
tor, "that  there  is  an  ulcer  peculiar  to  this  locality  which 
is  well-nigh  incurable.  The  slightest  abrasion  of  the 
cuticle  or  even  the  bite  of  an  insect  is  sufficient  to  cause  it. 
I  was  told  that  it  sometimes  happens  that  the  bite  of  a 


WEST    COAST    OF    AFRICA.  15 

mosquito  on  the  arm  or  leg  will  make  amputation  neces- 
sary, and  an  instance  of  this  kind  occurred  within  the  past 
three  months.  On  a  first  view  of  the  island  it  looks  like 
a  delightful  place,  hut  a  nearer  acquaintance  dispels  the 
illusion. 

"  I  wonder  how  long  we  will  be  obliged  to  stay  here," 
Harry  remarked. 

"  According  to  the  time-table,"  replied  the  doctor,  "the 
mail  steamer  will  be  here  to-morrow ;  and  if  she  comes, 
you  ma}T  be  sure  we  will  take  passage  on  her." 

The  steamer  came  according  to  schedule,  and  when  she 
left  she  carried  the  three  travelers  away  from  Fernando 
Po.  She  was  an  English  steamer  bound  for  the  Cape  of 
Good  Hope.  There  was  hardly  any  wind  blowing  when 
the  great  ship  started  out  into  the  Atlantic  and  headed 
away  to  the  southward,  but  the  movement  of  the  vessel 
through  the  water  was  sufficient  to  create  a  breeze,  which 
our  friends  greatly  enjoyed.  They  sat  beneath  the  awn- 
ings which  covered  the  entire  length  and  width  of  the 
steamer,  studied  their  fellow-passengers,  and  now  and 
then  cast  their  eyes  over  the  wide  and  desolate  sweep  of 
waters  to  the  west  and  south. 

Not  a  sail  was  to  be  seen,  a  few  craft  were  creeping 
along  the  coast,  but  they  were  not  numerous  enough  to 
add  animation  to  the  scene. 

We  will  take  from  Harry's  note-book  an  incident  or  two 
of  the  voyage. 

"We  found  a  mixed  lot  of  passengers  on  board  the 
steamer.  There  were  a  few  Englishmen  going  to  South 
Africa  for  the  first  time, — young  fellows  seeking  their  for- 


1 6  THE    LAND    OF    THE    KANGAROO. 

tunes,  and  full  of  hope  and  ambition.  One  of  them  said 
he  was  going  up  country  on  a  hunting  expedition,  not  for 
the  sport  only,  but  for  the  money  that  could  be  made  by 
the  sale  of  hides,  ivory,  horns,  and  other  products  of  the 
chase.  He  was  quite  well  informed  concerning  the  busi- 
ness on  which  he  was  bent,  and  told  me  that  it  was  the 
custom  for  two  or  more  men,  generally  not  above  four,  to 
buy  wagons,  oxen,  horses,  and  provisions  in  one  of  the 
towns  on  the  coast  or  in  the  interior,  and  then  strike  out 
into  the  wild  country  for  an  absence  of  anywhere  from 
three  to  six  or  seven  months.  Their  provisions  consisted 
of  flour,  sugar,  tea,  pepper,  salt,  and  a  few  other  things. 
For  meat  they  relied  upon  what  they  killed  ;  and  he  added 
that  a  great  deal  of  meat  was  needed,  as  there  were  from 
twenty-five  to  fifty  natives  attached  to  a  hunting  party  and 
all  of  them  had  ferocious  appetites. 

"  They  shot  anything  that  came  in  their  way,  elephants, 
buffaloes,  elands,  gemsbok,  and  I  don't  know  what  else. 
It  was  a  hard  life  and  not  without  risk,  but  it  was  healthy 
and  full  of  good  sport.  He  told  us  so  much  about  his 
business  that  Ned  and  I  heartily  wished  to  go  with  him 
and  have  a  share  in  the  experience  and  fun. 

"  Another  young  man  was  going  out  as  a  mining  en- 
gineer and  expected  to  find  employment  in  some  of  the 
newly  opened  gold  mines  in  the  Johannisburg  district. 
Another  was  to  become  the  manager  of  a  large  farm  forty 
or  fifty  miles  from  Cape  Town,  which  was  owned  by  his 
uncle.  Another  young  man  was  going  out  with  no  par- 
ticular object  in  view,  and  said  he  was  ready  for  anything 
that  turned  up. 


WEST    COAST    OF    AFRICA.  1 7 

"  Then  there  were  Afrikanders  who  had  been  on  a  visit 
to  England  for  business,  or  pleasure,  or  both  combined. 
One  had  been  there  for  the  express  purpose  of  finding  a 
bride  ;  he  found  her,  and  she  was  with  him  as  a  passenger 
on  the  steamer.  She  and  two  others  were  the  only  lady 
passengers  on  the  ship  ;  men  greatly  predominated  among 
the  passengers,  and  we  were  told  that  such  was  always  the 
case  on  board  one  of  these  steamers.  One  of  the  passen- 
gers was  a  resident  of  Durban,  the  port  of  Xatal,  and  he 
gave  us  a  cordial  invitation  to  visit  his  place.  <  You  will 
find  Durban  a  very  interesting  spot,'  said  he,  '  and  the 
only  bad  thing  about  it  is  getting  ashore.  There  is  a  nasty 
sea  breaking  there  most  of  the  time,  and  it  is  tedious  work 
getting  from  a  ship  into  a  small  boat  and  then  getting  safe 
to  land.  You  must  come  prepared  to  be  soused  with  salt 
water  two  or  three  times  before  you  get  your  feet  fairly 
planted  on  the  shore.' 

"  Ned  and  I  concluded  that  we  would  not  make  any 
special  effort  to  get  to  Durban,  although  we  had  received 
such  a  cordial  invitation  to  go  there. 

"We  had  a  good  breeze,"  continued  Harry,  "  until  we 
got  to  within  four  degrees  of  the  Equator ;  then  the  wind 
died  out  and  left  the  sea  as  smooth  as  glass,  without  the 
least  motion  upon  it  anywhere.  We  seemed  to  be  running 
through  an  enormous  plate  of  glass,  polished  until  it  shone 
like  the  most  perfect  mirror  ever  made.  As  we  looked 
down  from  the  rail  inlo  the  depths  of  the  sea  our  faces 
were  reflected,  and  there  seemed  to  be  a  counterfeit  pre- 
sentment of  ourselves  gazing  at  us  from  the  depths  below, 
and,  oh,  wasn't  it  hot,  blistering,  burning  hot !     The  sun 


l8  THE    LAND    OF    THE    KANGAROO. 

poured  down  so  that  the  heat  pierced  our  awnings  as 
though  no  awnings  had  been  there,  and  the  breeze  which 
the  ship  created  by  her  motion  seemed  like  the  blast  from 
a  furnace.  The  pitch  oozed  from  the  seams  of  the  plank- 
ing on  the  deck,  and  the  deck  itself  became  blistering  hot 
to  one's  feet.  There  was  not  the  least  stir  of  the  sails  and 
only  the  faintest  motion  of  the  ship  from  side  to  side. 
Respiration  became  difficult,  and,  as  I  looked  about,  I 
could  see  the  passengers  and  sailors  yawning  and  gaping 
in  the  effort  to  draw  in  their  breath.  All  the  metal  about 
the  ship  became  hot,  especially  the  brass.  If  you  touched 
it,  it  almost  seemed  to  raise  a  blister,  and  the  spot  with 
which  you  touched  it  was  painful  for  hours. 

"We  passed  a  ship  becalmed  in  the  doldrums,  as  this 
region  is  called,  and  she  looked  more  like  a  painted  ship 
upon  a  painted  ocean  than  any  other  craft  I  ever  saw. 
Her  sails  were  all  hanging  loose,  and  so  were  all  the  ropes, 
and  lines,  and  halyards  from  one  end  of  the  ship  to  the 
other.  She  was  as  motionless  as  if  she  were  tied  up  to  a 
dock  in  harbor,  and  there  was  very  little  sign  of  life  about 
her  anywhere.  I  asked  one  of  our  officers  how  long  that 
ship  had  probably  been  there  and  how  long  she  was  liable 
to  stay. 

"  'That's  a  question,  young  man,'  he  replied,  'that  I 
can't  answer  very  surely.  She  may  have  been  there 
a  day  or  two  only,  and  may  stay  only  a  day  or  so,  and 
then,  again,  she  may  have  been  there  a  week  or  a  month ; 
we  can't  tell  without  speaking  her,  and  we  are  not  par- 
ticularly interested  in  her,  anyhow.'" 

Then   he  went  on  to  explain  that  ships  have   been  be- 


WEST    COAST    OF    AFRICA. 


*9 


calmed  at  the  Equator  for  two  months  and  more,  lying 
all  the  time  in  a  dead  calm,  just  like  the  one  through  which 
we  were  passing. 

"Two  weeks,"  he  said,  "is  a  fair  time  for  a  ship  to 
stay  in  the  doldrums,  and  you  can  be  sure  it  is  quite  long 
enough  for  passengers  and  crew. 

"  Passengers  and  crew  sometimes  die  of  the  heat,  and 
existence  under  such  circumstances  becomes  a  burden. 
There  are  stories  about  ships  that  have  been  in  the  dol- 
drums six  or  eight  months  at  a  time,  but  I  am  not  inclined 
to  believe  them  ;  for  a  man  to  stay  in  this  terrific  heat  for 
that  length  of  time  would  be  enough  to  drive  him  crazy. 

"  The  steamer  was  three  days  in  the  calm  belt  of  the 
Equator  before  we  struck  the  southeast  trades,  and  had  a 
breeze  again.  I  don't  want  to  repeat  my  experiences 
with  the  doldrums. 

"  One  day  I  heard  a  curious  story  about  an  incident  on 
board  an  American  ship  not  far  from  the  Cape  of  Good 
Hope.  She  was  from  Calcutta,  and  bound  to  New  York, 
and  her  crew  consisted  of  American  sailors,  with  the  ex- 
ception of  two  Indian  coolies  who  had  been  taken  on 
board  at  Calcutta  because  the  ship  was  short-handed. 
One  of  these  coolies  had  been  put,  one  in  the  starboard 
and  the  other  in  the  port  watch,  and  everything  had  been 
quiet  and  peaceable  on  board  the  ship  until  the  incident  I 
am  about  to  describe. 

"One  night  the  ship  was  sailing  quietly  along,  and 
some  of  the  men  noticed,  or  remembered  afterwards,  that 
when  the  watches  were  changed,  the  coolie  who  had  been 
relieved  from  duty  remained  on   deck.     Shortly  after  the 


20  THE    LAND    OF    THE    KANGAROO. 

change  of  watch,  the  two  mates  of  the  ship  were  standing 
near  the  lee  rail  and  talking  with  each  other,  when  the  two 
coolies  came  along  and  one  of  them  made  the  remark  that 
he  was  sick.  This  remark  was  evidently  a  signal,  for  in- 
stantly one  of  the  coolies  drew  a  knife  and  stabbed  the 
first  mate  to  the  heart,  while  simultaneously  the  other 
coolie  sprang  with  a  knife  at  the  second  officer  and  gave 
him  several  stabs  in  the  chest. 

"  The  first  mate  fell  dead  at  the  stroke  of  the  knife,  but 
the  second  mate  had  sufficient  strength  left  to  crawl  to  the 
companionway  leading  to  the  captain's  room,  where  he 
called  out,  '  Captain  Clark  !  '  '  Captain  Clark  ! '  and  then 
ceased  to  breathe. 

"  The  captain  sprang  from  his  bunk,  and  rushed  on 
deck  in  his  night-clothes.  At  the  top  of  the  companion- 
steps  he  was  violently  stabbed  on  the  head  and  seized  by 
the  throat ;  he  was  quite  unarmed  and  struck  out  with  his 
fists  at  the  face  of  his  assailant,  hoping  to  blind  him. 
The  coolie  continued  to  stab  him,  and  the  captain  started 
back  down  the  steps  until  he  slipped  in  the  blood  that 
covered  them,  and  fell  into  the  cabin,  with  a  terrible 
wound  in  his  side.  He  then  crawled  to  where  his  revolver 
was,  and  started  up  the  steps;  when  half  way  up,  a  man 
rolled  down  the  steps  against  him  and  knocked  him  over., 

"The  captain  thought  it  was  the  coolie,  but  it  proved 
to  be  one  of  the  sailors,  who  was  frightened  half  to  death. 
All  he  could  say  was,  to  beg  of  the  captain  to  save  him. 

"  The  captain  had  his  wife  and  child  on  board,  and  his 
wife  was  roused  by  the  tumult.  She  came  to  her  hus- 
band's aid  and  proceeded  to  bind  up  his  wounds.     While 


WEST    COAST    OF    AFRICA.  21 

she  was  doing  this  one  of  the  coolies  smashed  in  the  sky- 
light, and  would  have  jumped  into  the  cabin  had  not  the 
captain  fired  at  him  with  his  revolver  and  drove  him  away. 

"The  next  thing  the  coolies  did  was  to  murder  the  man  at 
the  wheel  and  fling  his  body  overboard.  Then  they  mur- 
dered the  carpenter  and  a  sailor  and  disposed  of  them  the 
same  way.  Including  the  two  mates,  five  men  were  slain 
and  four  others  were  wounded.  The  wounded  men  and 
the  rest  of  the  crew  barricaded  themselves  in  the  forecastle 
for  protection,  and  there  they  remained  the  rest  of  the 
night  and  all  through  the  next  day.  The  captain  and  his 
wife  and  child  stayed  in  the  cabin. 

"  The  two  coolies  were  in  full  possession  of  the  ship  from 
a  little  past  midnight  until  eight  o'clock  of  the  following 
evening.  One  of  them,  venturing  near  the  skylight,  was 
shot  in  the  breast  by  the  captain,  and  then  the  two  coolies 
rushed  forward  and  threw  a  spar  overboard.  One  of  them 
jumped  into  the  sea  and  clung  to  the  spar,  while  the  other 
dropped  down  into  the  between-decks,  where  he  proceeded 
to  set  the  ship  on  fire.  Seeing  this,  the  sailors  who  had 
barricaded  themselves  in  the  forecastle  broke  out,  and  two 
of  them  proceeded  to  hunt  the  coolie  down  with  revolvers. 
They  hunted  him  out  and  shot  him  in  the  shoulder,  and 
then  he  jumped  overboard  and  joined  his  companion. 
Shots  were  fired  at  the  two  men,  and  soon  afterward  they 
sank. 

"  The  fire  got  such  headway  that  it  could  not  be  put  out. 
Finally  a  boat  was  provisioned  and  lowered ;  the  crew 
entered  it,  and  alter  waiting  about  the  ship  during  the 
night  in  the  hope  that  the  flames   might  bring  assistance, 


2  2  THE    LAND    OF    THE    KANGAROO. 

they  put  up  a  sail  and  headed  for  St.  Helena.  Thus  was 
a  ship's  crew  of  twenty-three  people  overawed  and  ren- 
dered helpless  by  two  slender  coolies,  whom  any  one  of 
the  Yankee  crew  could  have  crushed  out  of  existence  in  a 
very  short  space  of  time. 

"The  steamer  passed  near  Ascension  Island,  but  did 
not  stop  there.  This  island  is  entered  in  the  British 
Navy  List  as  a  commissioned  ship.  It  is  nearly  three 
thousand  feet  high,  very  rocky  and  well  supplied  with 
fresh  water.  Ships  often  stop  there  for  a  supply  of 
water  and  such  fresh  provisions  as  are  obtainable.  The 
climate  is  said  to  be  very  health}',  and  when  the  crews 
of  British  naval  vessels  are  enfeebled  by  a  long  stay 
on  the  African  coast,  they  go  to  Ascension  Island  to 
recruit  their  strength." 

Ned  and  Harry  were  very  desirous  of  visiting  the  island 
of  St.  Helena,  which  became  famous  as  a  prison  and  for 
many  years  the  grave  of  Napoleon.  They  were  disap- 
pointed on  ascertaining  that  the  ship  would  not  stop  there, 
and  the  officer  of  whom  they  made  inquiry  said  there  was 
nothing  to  stop  there  for.  "  The  island  is  not  of  much 
account,"  he  said,  "  and  the  natives  have  a  hard  time  to 
make  a  living.  In  the  days  of  sailing  ships  it  was  a 
favorite  stopping  place  and  the  inhabitants  did  a  good 
business.  The  general  introduction  of  steamships,  along 
with  the  digging  of  the  Suez  Canal,  have  knocked  their 
business  all  to  pieces. 

"Where  they  used  to  have  a  dozen  or  twenty  ships  a 
month,  they  get  about  half  as  many  in  a  year.  The  build- 
ings where  Napoleon  used  to  live  are  all  gone  to  ruin,  and 


WEST    COAST    OF    AFRICA.  23 

the  sight  of  them  does  not  pay  for  the  journey  one  has  to 
make  to  get  there." 

When  it  was  announced  that  the  vessel  was  nearing  the 
Cape  of  Good  Hope,  our  young  friends  strained  their  eyes 
in  a  friendly  competition  to  be  first  to  make  it  out.  Harry 
was  ahead  of  Ned  in  discerning  the  dim  outline  of  Table 
Mountain,  which  is  well  described  by  its  name.  It  is  a  flat- 
topped  mountain  fronting  on  the  bay  on  which  Cape  Town 
stands.  It  is  about  three  thousand  five  hundred  feet  in 
height,  and  is  guarded  on  the  left  by  the  Lion's  Head,  and 
on  the  right  by  the  Devil's  Berg.  The  harbor  is  reached 
by  passing  between  a  small  island  and  the  coast,  the  island 
forming  a  very  fair  shelter  for  ships  that  lie  inside  of  it. 

Here  the  voyage  of  the  steamer  came  to  an  end,  as  she 
belonged  to  one  of  the  lines  plying  between  England  and 
the  Cape.  It  became  necessary  for  our  friends  to  look 
around  for  another  ship  to  carry  them  to  their  destination. 
They  were  not  in  any  particular  hurry  about  it,  as  they 
were  quite  willing  to  devote  a  little  time  to  the  Cape  and 
its  peculiarities. 

A  swarm  of  boats  surrounded  the  ship  as  soon  as  her 
anchor  was  down,  and  everybody  was  in  a  hurry  to  get 
on  shore.  As  soon  as  our  friends  could  obtain  a  boat,  their 
baggage  was  passed  over  the  side  and  they  followed  it. 
The  boat  was  managed  by  a  white  man,  evidently  of  Dutch 
origin,  who  spoke  a  mixture  of  Dutch,  English,  and 
Hottentot,  and  perhaps  two  or  three  other  native  languages, 
in  such  a  confused  way  that  it  was  difficult  to  understand 
him  in  any.  Four  negroes  rowed  the  boat  and  did  the 
work   while  the   Dutchman   superintended  it.      The   boat- 


24  THE    LAND    OF    THE    KANGAROO. 

man  showed  a  laudable  desire  to  swindle  the  travelers, 
but  his  intentions  were  curbed  by  the  stringent  regulations 
established  by  the  city  authorities. 

As  they  neared  the  landing  place,  Ned  called  attention 
to  a  swarm  of  cabs  that  seemed  to  be  far  in  excess  of  any 
possible  demand  for  them.  Harry  remarked  that  he  didn't 
think  they  would  have  any  lack  of  vehicles  to  take  them 
to  the  hotel,  and  so  it  proved.  The  cab  drivers  displayed 
great  eagerness  in  their  efforts  to  secure  passengers,  and 
their  prices  were  by  no  means  unreasonable. 

We  will  listen  to  Ned  as  he  tells  the  story  of  what  he 
saw  on  landing  in  Cape  Town. 

"The  thing  that  impressed  me  most  was  the  varying 
complexion  of  the  inhabitants.  They  are  not  exactly  of 
the  colors  of  the  rainbow,  but  they  certainly  present  all  the 
shades  of  complexion  that  can  be  found  in  the  human 
face.  You  see  fair-haired  Englishmen,  and  English 
women,  too,  and  then  you  see  negroes  so  black  that  char- 
coal '  would  make  a  white  mark  on  their  faces,'  as  one  of 
my  schoolmates  used  to  say.  Between  these  two,  so  far  as 
color  is  concerned,  you  see  several  shades  of  negro  com- 
plexion ;  and  you  also  see  Malays,  coolies  from  India, 
Chinese,  and  I  don't  know  what  else.  The  Malays  or 
coolies  have  drifted  here  in  search  of  employment,  and  the 
same  is  the  case  with  the  Chinese,  who  are  to  be  found,  so 
Dr.  Whitney  says,  in  every  port  of  Asia  and  Africa. 

"  Most  of  these  exotic  people  cling  to  their  native 
costume,  especially  the  natives  of  India,  and  the  Malays, 
though  a  good  deal  depends  on  the  employment  in  which 
they  engage.      Some  of  the  Malays  drive  cabs,   and  the 


WEST    COAST    OF    AFRICA.  25 

drivers  usually  adopt  European  dress  or  a  modification  of 
it.  Among  the  white  inhabitants  the  Dutch  hold  a  pre- 
dominating place,  and  they  are  said  to  outnumber  the 
English  ;  they  are  the  descendants  of  the  original  settlers 
at  the  Cape  something  more  than  two  hundred  years  ago. 
They  observe  their  individuality  and  have  an  important 
voice  in  the  local  affairs  of  the  colony ;  but  whenever  the 
English  authorities  have  their  mind  made  up  to  pursue  a 
certain  policy,  whether  it  be  for  the  construction  of  rail- 
ways in  the  interior  or  the  building  of  docks  or  break- 
waters in  the  harbor  of  Cape  Town,  they  generally  do 
pretty  much  as  they  please. 

"  I  observed  that  the  people  on  the  streets  seem  to  take 
things  easily  and  move  about  with  quite  a  languid  air. 
This  was  the  case  with  white  and  colored  people  alike ; 
probably  the  Dutch  settlers  set  the  example  years  and 
years  ago,  and  the  others  have  followed  it.  Harry  thinks 
that  it  is  the  heat  of  the  place  which  causes  everybody  to 
move  about  slowly.  Some  one  has  remarked  that  only 
dogs  and  strangers  walk  rapidly ;  in  Cape  Town  the  only 
people  whom  I  saw  walking  fast  were  some  of  our  fellow- 
passengers  from  the  steamer.  I  actually  did  see  a  negro 
running,  but  the  fact  is,  that  another  negro  with  a  big 
stick  was  running  after  him.  As  for  the  dogs,  they 
seemed  just  as  quiet  as  their  masters. 

"  We  inquired  for  the  best  hotel  in  Cape  Town,  and  were 
taken  to  the  one  indicated  as  such.  Harry  says  he  thinks 
the  driver  made  a  mistake  and  took  us  to  the  worst;  and 
Dr.  Whitney  remarks  that  if  this  is  the  best,  he  doesn't 
want  to   travel    through    the   street    where   the   worst  one 


26  THE    LAND    OF    THE    KANGAROO. 

stands.  We  have  made  some  inquiries  since  coming  to 
this  house,  and  find  that  it  is  really  the  best,  or  perhaps  I 
ought  to  say  the  least  bad,  in  the  place.  The  table  is  poor, 
the  beds  lumpy  and  musty,  and  nearly  every  window  has 
a  broken  pane  or  two,  while  the  drainage  is  atrocious. 

"We  are  told  that  the  hotels  all  through  South  Africa 
are  of  the  same  sort,  and  the  only  thing  about  them  that  is 
first  class  is  the  price  which  one  pays  for  accommodation. 
The  hotel  is  well  filled,  the  greater  part  of  the  passengers 
from  our  steamer  having  come  here  ;  but  I  suppose  the 
number  will  dwindle  down  considerably  in  the  next  two  or 
three  days,  as  the  people  scatter  in  the  directions  whither 
they  are  bound.  Most  people  come  to  Cape  Town  in 
order  to  leave  it. 

"  And  this  reminds  me  that  there  are  several  railways 
branching  out  from  Cape  Town.  There  is  a  line  twelve 
hundred  miles  long  to  Johannisburg  in  the  Transvaal  Re- 
public, and  there  are  several  other  lines  of  lesser  length. 
The  colonial  government  has  been  very  liberal  in  making 
grants  for  railways,  and  thus  developing  the  business  of 
the  colony.  Every  year  sees  new  lines  undertaken,  or 
old  ones  extended,  and  it  will  not  be  very  long  before  the 
iron  horse  goes  pretty  nearly  everywhere  over  the  length 
and  breadth  of  South  Africa. 

**  We  have  driven  along  the  principal  streets  of  the  city, 
and  admired  the  public  buildings,  which  are  both  numerous 
and  handsome.  We  took  a  magnificent  drive  around  the 
mountain  to  the  rear  of  the  city,  where  there  are  some 
very  picturesque  views.  In  some  places  the  edge  of  the 
road  is  cut  directly  into  the  mountain  side,  and  we  looked 


WEST    COAST    OF    AFRICA.  27 

almost  perpendicularly  down  for  five  or  six  hundred  feet, 
to  where  the  waters  of  the  Atlantic  were  washing  the  base 
of  the  rocks.  From  the  mountain  back  of  Cape  Town, 
there  is  a  fine  picture  of  the  city  harbor  and  lying  almost  at 
one's  feet ;  the  city,  with  its  rows  and  clusters  of  buildings 
glistening  in  the  sunlight,  and  the  bright  harbor,  with  its 
docks,  breakwaters,  and  forest  of  masts  in  full  view  of 
the  spectator.  From  this  point  we  could  see  better  than 
while  in  the  harbor  itself,  the  advantages  of  the  new  break- 
water. It  seems  that  the  harbor  is  exposed  to  southeast 
winds,  which  are  the  prevailing  ones  here.  When  the 
wind  freshens  into  a  gale,  the  position  of  the  ships  at 
anchor  in  the  harbor  is  a  dangerous  one,  and  the  break- 
waters have  been  constructed  so  as  to  obviate  this  danger. 
When  they  are  completed,  the  harbor  will  be  fairly  well 
landlocked,  and  ships  may  anchor  in  Table  Bay,  and 
their  masters  feel  a  sense  of  security  against  being  driven 
on  shore." 


CHAPTER  II. 

THE  CAPE  OF  GOOD  HOPE THE  SOUTHERN  OCEAN  — 

AUSTRALIA. 

"  A  \  7"OULD  you  like  to  visit  an  ostrich  farm?"  said 
V  V  Dr.  Whitney,  while  our  friends  were  at  break- 
fast, on  the  second  morning  after  their  arri- 
val at  Cape  Town. 

"  I  would,  for  one,"  said  Harry;  to  which  Ned  replied, 
"  and  so  would  I." 

"  Very  well,"  continued  the  doctor.  "  I  have  an  invita- 
tion to  visit  an  ostrich  establishment,  and  we  will  start 
immediately  after  breakfast.  The  railway  will  take  us 
within  about  three  miles  of  the  farm,  and  the  gentleman 
who  has  given  me  the  invitation,  and  included  you  in  it, 
will  accompany  us  on  the  train,  and  his  carriage  will  meet 
us  at  the  station." 

"  That  is  capital  !  "  exclaimed  Harry.  "  He  will  be  sure 
to  give  us  a  great  deal  of  information  on  the  subject  while 
we  are  on  the  train,  so  that  we  can  see  the  farm  more  in- 
telligently than  would  otherwise  be  the  case." 

"  Yes,  that  is  so,"  echoed  Ned,  "  and  as  he  is  the  pro- 
prietor of  the  establishment,  he  will  certainly  know  all  about 
the  business." 

At  the  appointed  time  the  party  assembled  at  the  railway 
station  in  Cape  Town,  and  when  the  train  was  ready,  our 
friends,  accompanied  by  their  host,  Mr.  Shaffner,  took  their 


THE    CAPE    OF    GOOD    HOPE.  20. 

places  and  were  soon  whirling  away  towards  their  destina- 
tion. For  a  part  of  the  way  the  train  wound  among  hills 
and  low  mountains,  and  for  another  it  stretched  away  across 
the  level  or  slightly  undulating  plain.  Mr.  Shaffner  entered 
at  once  upon  the  subject  of  ostriches,  and  as  he  began  his 
conversation,  Harry  asked  him  if  he  had  any  objections  to 
their  taking  notes  of  what  he  said. 

«  Not  in  the  least,"  was  the  reply  ;  "  you  are  welcome 
to  take  all  the  notes  you  like,  and  if  there  is  any  point  that 
I  don't  explain  fully  to  your  satisfaction,  please  tell  me, 
and  I  will  be  more  explicit." 

The  youths  thanked  him  for  his  courtesy,  and  imme- 
diately brought  out  their  notebooks  and  pencils. 

"According  to  tradition,"  said  Mr.  Shaffner,  "  ostriches 
were  formerly  very  abundant,  wild  ones,  I  mean,  all  over 
this  part  of  the  country.  In  the  early  part  of  this  century 
they  were  so  numerous  in  the  neighborhood  of  Cape  Town. 
that  a  man  could  hardly  walk  a  quarter  of  an  hour  with- 
out seeing  one  or  more  of  these  birds.  As  late  as  1858, 
a  ilock  of  twenty  or  thirty  were  seen  among  hills  about 
twenty  miles  from  Cape  Town,  but  after  that  time  they 
seemed  to  have  disappeared  almost  entirely.  Ostrich 
farming  is  an  enterprise  of  the  past  twenty  years,  and  be- 
fore it  began,  the  only  way  of  procuring  ostrich  feathers 
was  by  hunting  down  and  killing  the  wild  birds.  The 
practise  was  cruel,  and  it  was  also  the  reverse  of  economi- 
cal. Thoughtful  hunters  realized  this,  and  a  rumor  went 
through  the  colony  that  ostriches  had  been  domesticated  in 
Algeria,  and  were  successfully  raised  for  the  production 
of  feathers.     When   this   rumor  or   report  went  about,  it 


30  THE    LAND    OF    THE    KANGAROO. 

naturally  set  some  of  us  thinking,  and  our  thoughts  were, 
'  Why  can't  ostrichs  be  raised  here,  as  well  as  in  Algeria  ?  ' 
Several  enterprising  men  proceeded  to  make  experiments. 
They  offered  to  pay  a  high  price  for  live  birds  in  good 
health  and  condition,  and  the  price  they  offered  induced 
the  natives  to  set  about  catching  them. 

"Of  course  we  were  all  in  the  dark  as  to  the  proper 
method  of  taking  care  of  ostriches,  as  the  business  was 
entirely  new  to  all  of  us.  We  made  many  mistakes  and 
lost  a  good  many  birds.  The  eggs  became  addled  and 
worthless,  and  for  the  first  two  or  three  years  it  looked  as 
though  the  experiments  would  be  a  failure.  Our  greatest 
difficulty  was  in  finding  proper  food  for  the  birds.  We 
tried  them  with  various  kinds  of  grasses,  and  we  studied 
as  well  as  we  could  the  habits  of  the  wild  bird  at  home. 
We  found  that  they  needed  a  certain  quantity  of  alkalies, 
and  they  subsisted  largely  upon  the  sweet  grasses,  wher- 
ever they  could  find  them.  The  grass  called  lucerne 
seems  the  best  adapted  to  them,  and  you  will  find  it  grown 
on  all  ostrich  farms  for  the  special  purpose  of  feeding  the 
birds. 

"We  have  got  the  business  down  so  fine  now  that  we 
understand  all  the  various  processes  of  breeding,  rearing, 
herding,  feeding,  plucking,  and  sorting.  We  buy  and  sell 
ostriches  just  as  we  do  sheep.  We  fence  in  our  flocks, 
stable  them,  grow  crops  for  them,  study  their  habits,  and 
cut  their  feathers  as  matters  of  business.  We  don't  send 
the  ecrffs  to  market  along  with  our  butter  and  cheese,  as 
they  are  altogether  too  dear  for  consumption.  It  is  true 
that  an  ostrich  egg  will  make  a  meal  for  three  or  four 


THE    CAPE    OF    GOOD    HOPE.  3 I 

persons  ;    but  at  five   dollars  an  egg,    which   is  the  usual 
price,  the  meal  would  be  a  dear  one. 

"In  fact,  the  eggs  are  so  precious,"  he  continued,  "  that 
we  don't  allow  them  to  be  hatched  out  by  the  birds.  For 
fear  of  accidents,  as  soon  as  the  eggs  have  been  laid  they 
are  taken  from  the  nests  and  placed  in  a  patent  incubator 
to  be  hatched  out.  The  incubator  makes  fewer  mistakes 
than  the  parent  ostriches  do.  That  is  to  say,  if  you  entrust 
a  given  number  of  eggs  to  the  birds  to  be  hatched  out  in 
the  natural  way,  and  place  the  same  number  in  an  incuba- 
tor, you  will  get  a  considerably  larger  proportion  of  chicks 
from  the  latter  than  from  the  former. 

"The  business  of  ostrich  farming,"  Mr.  Shaffner  went 
on  to  say,  "  is  spread  over  the  colony  from  the  near 
neighborhood  of  Cape  Town  to  the  eastern  frontier,  and 
from  Albany  to  the  Orange  River.  Ostrich  farms  were 
scattered  at  no  great  distances  apart,  and  some  of  the 
proprietors  had  a  high  reputation  for  their  success.  He 
said  it  must  not  be  understood  that  ostrich  farming  was  the 
great  industry  of  the  country  ;  on  the  contrary,  the  product 
of  wool  was  far  greater  in  value  than  that  of  feathers, 
and  the  ostriches  were  to  the  sheep  as  one  is  to  a  thou- 
sand." 

Harry  asked  if  the  birds  were  allowed  to  run  at  large,  or 
were  kept  constantly  in  enclosures. 

"  Both  plans  are  followed,"  said  Mr.  Shaffner,  "  and 
some  of  the  farmers  allow  their  flocks  to  run  at  large,  feed- 
ing them  once  a  day  on  grain,  for  which  they  must  come 
to  the  home  stable.  The  ostriches  know  the  hour  of  feeding 
as  well  as  if  they  carried  watches,  and  are  promptly  on 


32  THE    LAND    OF    THE    KANGAROO. 

hand  when  their  dinner  time  arrives.  In  this  way  they  are 
kept  under  domestication  and  accustomed  to  the  presence 
of  men,  but  occasionally  they  stray  away  and  disappear. 
The  safer  way  is  to  keep  a  native  boy  or  man  constantly 
with  each  herd  of  ostriches,  and  the  herder  is  held  respon- 
sible for  the  loss  of  any  bird. 

"  Even  then  the  flock  may  sometimes  be  frightened  and 
scattered  beyond  the  ability  of  the  herder  to  bring  the  birds 
together.  On  my  farm,  I  have  the  ground  fenced  off  into 
fifty-acre  lots.  I  divide  my  birds  into  flocks  of  twenty-five 
or  thirty,  and  put  them  successively  in  the  different  lots  of 
land.  I  sow  the  ground  with  lucerne,  and  do  not  turn  a 
flock  into  a  field  or  paddock  until  the  grass  is  in  good  con- 
dition for  the  birds  to  eat. 

"  You  may  put  it  down  as  a  rule  on  ostrich  farms,  that 
plenty  of  space  and  a  good  fence  are  essential  to  success. 
In  every  paddock  you  must  have  a  good  shed,  where  the 
birds  can  take  shelter  when  it  rains.  You  must  also  have 
a  kraal  or  yard  in  each  paddock,  where  you  can  drive  the 
birds  whenever  you  want  to  select  some  of  them  for  cutting 
their  feathers.  It  is  proper  to  say,  however,  that  a  kraal 
in  each  paddock  is  not  necessary,  as  all  that  work  can  be 
done  at  the  home  station,  where  you  have  the  buildings  for 
artificial  hatching  and  for  gathering  the  feathers." 

Ned  asked  what  kind  of  ground  was  best  suited  for  the 
ostrich. 

' '  You  must  have  ground  where  the  soil  and  plants  are 
rich  in  alkalies,"  replied  Mr.  Shaffner,  "  and  when  this  is 
not  the  case,  care  must  be  taken  to  supply  the  needful  ele- 
ment.    Before  this  matter  was  understood  there  was  some 


THE  CAPE  OF  GOOD  HOPE.  33 

melancholy  failures  in  the  business.  A  friend  of  mine 
started  an  ostrich  farm  on  a  sandstone  ridfje.  There  was 
no  limestone  on  the  farm,  and  most  of  the  birds  died  in  a 
few  months,  and  those  that  lived  laid  no  eggs  and  produced 
very  few  feathers.  Limestone  was  carted  to  the  farm  from 
a  considerable  distance,  and  the  birds  would  not  touch  it. 
Bones  were  then  tried  and  with  admirable  effect.  What 
the  birds  required  was  phosphate  of  lime,  and  the  bones 
gave  them  that.  They  rushed  at  them  with  great  eager- 
ness, and  as  soon  as  they  were  well  supplied  with  bones 
they  began  to  improve  in  health  and  to  lay  eggs.  On 
farms  like  the  one  I  mentioned,  a  quarter  of  a  pound  of 
sulphur  and  some  salt  is  mixed  with  two  buckets  of  pulver- 
ized bones,  and  the  birds  are  allowed  to  eat  as  much  of 
this  mixture  as  they  like.  Where  the  rocks,  grass,  and 
soil  contain  alkaline  salts  in  abundance,  the  birds  require 
very  little,  if  any,  artificial  food,  and  they  thrive,  fatten, 
pair,  and  lay  eggs  in  the  most  satisfactory  manner." 

"According  to  the  story  books,"  said  Harry,  "the 
ostrich  will  eat  anything.  But  from  what  vou  sav,  Mr. 
Shaffner,  it  does  not  seem  that  that  is  really  the  case." 

"  The  ostrich  has  a  very  good  appetite,  I  must  sav,"  was 
the  reply,  "  and  so  far  as  green  things  are  concerned,  he 
will  eat  almost  anything ;  lucerne,  clover,  wheat,  corn, 
cabbage  leaves,  fruit,  grain,  and  garden  vegetables  are  all 
welcome,  and  he  eats  a  certain  quantity  of  crushed  lime- 
stone and  bones,  and  generally  keeps  a  few  pebbles  in  his 
stomach  to  assist  him  in  the  process  of  digestion.  If  he 
sees  a  bright  sparkling  stone  on  the  ground,  he  is  very  apt 
to  swallow  it,  and  that  reminds  me  of  a  little  incident  about 


34  THE    LAND    OF    THE    KANGAROO. 

two  years  ago.  An  English  gentleman  was  visiting  my 
place,  and  while  he  was  looking  around  he  came  close  up 
to  the  fence  of  a  paddock  containing  a  number  of  ostriches. 
An  ostrich  was  on  the  other  side  of  the  fence  and  close  to 
it.  The  gentleman  had  a  large  diamond  in  his  shirt  front, 
and  while  he  was  looking  at  the  bird,  the  latter,  with  a  quick 
movement  of  his  head,  wrenched  the  stone  from  its  setting 
and  swallowed  it.  I  see  that  none  of  you  wear  diamonds, 
and  so  it  is  not  necessary  for  me  to  repeat  the  caution  which 
I  have  ever  since  given  to  my  diamond-wearing  visitors." 

"  What  became  of  the  diamond?  "  Harry  asked. 

"  Oh  !  my  visitor  bought  the  bird  and  had  it  killed,  in 
order  to  get  the  diamond  back  again.  He  found  it  safe 
in  the  creature's  stomach,  along  with  several  small  stones. 
It  was  a  particularly  valuable  gem,  and  the  gentleman 
had  no  idea  of  allowing  the  bird  to  keep  it." 

Ned  wanted  to  know  if  ostriches  lived  in  flocks  like 
barnyard  fowls,  or  divided  off  into  pairs  like  the  majority 
of  forest  and  field  birds. 

"That  depends  a  great  deal  upon  the  farmer,"  Mr. 
Shaffner  answered.  "  The  pairing  season  is  in  the  month 
of  July,  which  is  equivalent  to  the  English  January.  Some 
farmers,  when  the  pairing  time  approaches,  put  a  male  and 
female  bird  together  in  a  pen ;  some  put  two  females  with 
a  male,  and  very  often  a  male  bird  has  five  hens  in  his 
family.  The  birds  run  in  pairs  or  flocks,  as  the  case  may 
be.  In  August,  the  hens  begin  to  lay,  and  continue  to 
deposit  eggs  for  a  period  of  six  weeks.  They  do  not  lay 
every  day,  like  domestic  fowls,  but  every  second  or  third 
day.     As  I  have  already  told  you,  the  eggs  are  taken  as 


THE    CArE    OK    GOOD    HOPE.  35 

soon  as  laid  and  hatched  in  an  incubator.  Sixteen  birds 
out  of  twenty  eggs  is  considered  a  very  fair  proportion, 
while,  if  the  bird  is  allowed  to  sit  on  the  eggs,  we  are  not 
likely  to  get  more  than  twelve  out  of  twenty.  There  is 
another  advantage  in  hatching  eggs  by  the  incubator  proc- 
ess, and  that  is,  that  when  the  eggs  are  taken  away  the  hen 
proceeds  a  few  weeks  later  to  lay  another  batch  of  eggs, 
which  she  does  not  do  if  she  has  a  family  to  care  for." 

"  What  do  you  do  with  the  young  birds  when  they  are 
hatched  ?  " 

"  We  put  them  in  a  warm  room,"  was  the  reply,  "  and 
at  night  they  are  put  in  a  box  lined  with  wool ;  they  are 
fed  with  chopped  grass  suitable  to  them,  and  as  soon  as 
they  are  able  to  run  about  they  are  entrusted  to  the  care 
of  a  small  boy,  a  Kaffir  or  Hottentot,  to  whom  they  get 
strongly  attached.  They  grow  quite  rapidly  and  begin  to 
feather  at  eight  months  after  hatching,  but  the  yield  at 
that  time  is  of  very  little  value.  Eight  months  later  there 
is  another  and  better  crop,  and  then  at  each  season  the 
crop  improves  until  the  birds  are  four  or  five  years  old, 
when  it  reaches  its  maximum  condition.  Exactly  how 
long  an  ostrich  will  live,  I  don't  know.  There  are  some 
birds  here  in  South  Africa  that  are  twenty  years  old,  and 
they  are  strong  and  healthy  yet." 

Conversation  ran  on  in  various  ways  until  the  station  was 
reached  where  our  friends  were  to  leave  the  train.  The 
carriage  was  waiting  for  them,  and  the  party  drove  at  once 
to  the  farm,  where  Mr.  Shaffner  showed  them  about  the 
place,  and  called  attention  to  the  flocks  of  birds  straying 
about  the  different  paddocks.      Jt  so  happened  that  a  Hock 


36  THE    LAND    OF    THE    KANGAROO. 

had  been  driven  up  that  very  morning  for  the  purpose  of 
cutting  such  of  the  feathers  as  were  in  proper  condition  to 
be  removed  from  the  birds. 

While  the  men  were  driving  the  birds  into  the  kraal, 
Mr.  Shaffner  explained  that  there  was  a  difference  of 
opinion  among  farmers  as  to  whether  the  feathers  should 
be  plucked  or  cut.  He  said  that  when  the  feather  is 
plucked  or  pulled  out  at  the  roots  it  is  apt  to  make  a  bad 
sore,  and  at  any  rate  cause  a  great  deal  of  pain  ;  while  the 
feather  that  grows  in  its  place  is  apt  to  be  twisted  or  of 
poor  quality,  and  occasionally  the  birds  die,  as  a  result  of 
the  operation.  When  a  feather  is  nipped  off  with  pincers 
or  cut  with  a  knife  the  bird  is  quite  insensible  to  the  opera- 
tion. The  stumps  that  are  left  in  the  flesh  of  the  ostrich 
fall  out  in  the  course  of  a  month  or  six  weeks,  or  can  be 
easily  drawn  out,  and  then  a  new  and  good  feather  grows 
in  place  of  the  old  one.  The  reason  why  plucking  still 
finds  advocates  is  that  the  feathers  with  the  entire  quill 
bring  a  higher  price  in  the  market  than  those  that  have 
been  cut  or  nipped. 

Harry  and  Ned  watched  with  much  interest  the  process 
of  removing  feathers  from  the  birds.  Here  is  the  way 
Harry  describes  it. 

"  The  men  moved  around  among  the  ostriches  in  a  per- 
fectly easy  way,  and  seemed  to  be  on  the  best  of  terms 
with  their  charges.  The  foreman  selected  a  bird  and  in- 
dicated to  one  of  the  men  that  he  wanted  it  brought  for- 
ward. Thereupon  the  man  seized  the  bird  by  the  neck 
and  pressed  its  head  downward  until  he  could  draw  a  sack 
like  a  long  and  very  large  stocking  over  it. 


THE  CAPE  OF  GOOD  HOPE.  37 

"When  blindfolded  in  this  way  the  ostrich  is  perfectly 
helpless,  and  will  stand  perfectly  still.  The  man  pushed 
and  led  the  bird  up  to  the  fence,  and  then  the  foreman, 
armed  with  his  cutting  nippers,  selected  the  feathers  that 
he  wanted  and  cut  them  off.  When  the  operation  was 
ended  the  sack  was  removed,  and  the  ostrich  resumed  his 
place  among  his  companions.  He  did  not  strike,  or  kick, 
or  indicate  in  any  way  that  he  was  aware  of  what  had 
happened  to  him. 

"  During  their  breeding  time  the  male  ostriches  are 
decidedly  vicious,  and  it  is  dangerous  to  go  near  them. 
Mr.  Shaffner  told  us  that  several  serious  accidents  had 
happened  to  his  men  at  such  times.  Occasionallv  a  bird 
shows  more  or  less  ugliness  on  being  driven  into  a  kraal, 
and  when  this  is  the  case  caution  must  be  used  in  ap- 
proaching him.  The  ostrich's  favorite  mode  of  hVhtin<r 
is  to  strike  or  kick  with  one  leg,  and  he  can  give  a  terrible 
blow  in  this  way. 

"I  asked  Mr.  Shaffner,"  said  Harry,  "what  was  the 
value  of  a  good  ostrich.  He  replied  that  the  question  was 
one  he  could  not  answer  in  a  single  phrase.  He  said  that 
an  egg  was  worth  not  less  than  five  dollars,  and  an  ostrich 
chick,  fresh  from  the  egg,  was  worth  twenty-five  dollars. 

••  After  a  few  months  it  was  double  that  value,  and  by 
the  time  it  was  a  year  old  it  was  worth  two  hundred  and 
fifty  dollars.  Mr.  Shaffner  said  he  would  be  unwilling  to 
sell  a  pair  of  hens  and  a  male  ostrich  for  less  than  two 
thousand  dollars,  but  he  explained  that  a  great  deal  de- 
pended upon  the  breeding  and  feather-producing  qualities 
of  the  birds. 


38  THE    EAND    OF    THE    KANGAROO. 

"Then,  I  asked,"  continued  Harry,  "about  the  yield 
of  feathers,  and  was  told  that  the  average  yield  was  about 
fifty  dollars  annually  to  a  good  bird.  The  feathers  ripen 
at  the  time  of  incubation  and  are  injured  by  the  process, 
so  that  the  artificial  incubator,  by  releasing  the  birds  from 
duty  on  the  nest,  is  of  special  value. 

"  I  remarked,"  said  Harry,  "  that,  considering  the  in- 
crease in  the  flocks  and  the  money  obtained  from  the 
feathers,  ostrich  farming  ought  to  be  very  profitable." 

"Well,  it  is  profitable  in  a  general  way,"  replied  Mr. 
Shaffner,  "  but  that  is  not  by  any  means  the  rule.  There 
are  farmers  who  have  never  made  anything  by  it,  and  it 
has  its  drawbacks,  like  everything  else.  The  birds  are 
subject  to  diseases  of  various  kinds,  and  there  is  a  para- 
sitic worm  on  some  farms  that  is  very  destructive.  Wild 
beasts  kill  the  birds,  and  I  myself  have  lost  three  fine 
ostriches  this  year  in  that  way.  I  know  one  farm  on 
which  eighty-five  birds  were  originally  placed.  In  the 
very  first  year  twenty-seven  were  lost,  thirteen  by  cold  and 
wret,  three  by  diphtheria,  six  killed  by  natives,  three  by 
fighting,  and  two  by  falling  into  holes.  Out  of  sixty  eggs, 
nineteen  were  destroyed  by  crows.  These  birds  would 
take  stones  in  their  claws,  fly  to  a  point  directly  over  the 
nest,  and  then  let  the  stones  fall  on  the  eggs,  thus  break- 
ing them,  so  that  they  could  get  at  the  contents  of  the 
shells.  The  remaining  eggs  were  sent  to  a  neighboring 
farm  to  be  artificially  incubated,  but  only  ten  of  them 
hatched  out.  So,  you  see,"  the  gentleman  continued, 
"  ostrich  farming  has  its  hard  times,  like  everything  else." 
After  inspecting  the  ostrich  farm  our  friends  were  en- 


TIIK    CAPS    OF    GOOD    IIOi'K.  39 

tertained  at  a  substantial  dinner  in  the  house  of  their  host, 
and  in  the  afternoon  were  driven  to  the  railway  station, 
whence  they  returned  to  Cape  Town,  having  well  enjoyed 
their  first  excursion. 

That  evening  Dr.  Whitney  received  an  invitation  to 
visit  a  large  sheep  farm  about  thirty  miles  from  Cape 
Town,  accompanied,  as  before,  by  his  two  nephews.  He 
accepted  the  invitation,  and  the  trio  took  an  early  train  for 
their  destination.  They  were  met  at  the  station  by  the 
owner  of  the  establishment,  and  were  speedily  shown 
through  the  entire  place.  Sheep  farming  was  less  a 
novelty  to  our  young  friends  than  ostrich  farming,  and 
consequently  they  had  much  less  interest  in  seeing  the 
sights  of  the  establishment.  Harry  wrote  a  brief  account 
of  their  visit,  and  we  are  permitted  to  copy  from  it. 

"  Evidently  the  place  was  prosperous,"  said  Harry,  in 
his  journal,  "  as  we  found  an  abundance  of  substantial 
buildings,  a  luxurious  house  for  the  owner,  and  substantial 
dwellings  for  the  manager  and  his  assistant.  We  sat 
down  to  an  excellent,  though  somewhat  late  breakfast. 
We  had  a  good  appetite  for  it,  as  we  had  breakfasted  very 
lightly  before  leaving  Cape  Town.  On  the  table  we  had 
broiled  chickens,  broiled  ham,  and  lamb  chops,  together 
with  t^i;^,  bread,  and  the  usual  concomitants  of  the  morn- 
ing meal. 

"  After  breakfast  we  visited  the  sheds  where  the  sheep 
are  sheared,  and  also  the  surrounding  sheds  and  yards 
where  the  animals  are  driven  up  at  shearing  time.  We 
were  sorry  that  it  was  not  the  time  of  the  annual  shearing, 
so  that  we  could  witness  the  process.      Our  host  told  us 


4° 


THE    LAND    OF    THE    KANGAROO. 


that  the  shearers  travel  about  the  country,  and  take  con- 
tracts for  shearing  the  flocks  at  so  much  a  head.  In 
addition  to  their  wages,  they  were  supplied  with  food,  and 
he  added  that  the  shearers  were  a  fastidious  lot,  and  noth- 
ing but  the  best  table  would  suit  them. 

"  After  inspecting  the  buildings,  we  were  supplied  with 
saddle  horses  and  rode  over  the  farm.  The  sheep  are 
divided  into  flocks  of  about  three  hundred  each,  and  every 
flock  is  in  charge  of  two  herders  or  shepherds.  Some  of 
them  come  into  the  home  stations  at  night,  while  others 
have  separate  out  stations  of  their  own.  The  herders  are 
either  Hottentots  or  Kaffirs ;  at  any  rate  they  are  negroes. 
The  two  of  them  start  out  in  the  morning  with  the  flock, 
and  go  slowly  along,  allowing  the  sheep  to  feed,  and  cal- 
culating time  and  distance  so  that  they  will  reach  a  watering 
place  about  noon.  There  the  sheep  are  watered  and  then 
they  start  back  again  towards  the  station,  where  they  arrive 
an  hour  or  so  before  sunset,  and  are  shut  up  in  a  yard  for 
the  night. 

"  The  shepherds  do  their  own  cooking,  and  once  a  week 
one  of  them  comes  to  the  head  station  to  be  supplied  with 
provisions.  Our  host  explained  to  us  that  one  shepherd 
was  sufficient  for  a  flock,  but  the  life  was  so  lonely  that  a 
man  would  not  stick  to  it,  if  left  alone,  and  they  had  to 
have  two  men  in  order  to  keep  each  other  company.  I 
can  well  understand  how  wearisome  it  would  be  to  have 
nobody  to  speak  to  for  days  at  a  time,  and  one  of  the  last 
occupations  I  would  wish  to  engage  in  is  that  of  shepherd. 

"  Wool  raising  is  a  very  large  industry  in  Cape  Colony, 
and  it  certainly  has  been  a  very  profitable  one.      Our  host 


Till-:    CAPE    OF    GOOD    HOPE. 


41 


told  us  that  if  a  man  could  avoid  accidents  and  misfortunes, 
he  would  find  the  business  very  remunerative ;  but,  of 
course,  misfortunes  are  pretty  sure  to  come.  He  told  us 
further,  that  nearly  all  the  sheep  farmers  of  South  Africa 
had  started  into  the  business  as  poor  men,  and.  while  none 
of  them  were  millionaires,  there  were  some  that  were  very 
near  being  so.  He  gave  some  statistics  of  the  wool  trade, 
but  I  have  mislaid  the  sheet  of  paper  containing  them,  and 
so  cannot  give  them  to  vou." 

On  their  return  from  the  excursion  to  the  sheep  farm,  our 
friends  learned  that  a  steamer  of  the  Orient  line  had  just 
arrived,  and  would  leave  at  noon  the  next  dav  for  Aus- 
tralia. Dr.  Whitney  decided  to  take  passage  on  this 
steamer,  and  the  matter  was  very  quickly  arranged. 

When  the  great  ship  left  the  harbor  of  Cape  Town,  our 
friends  stood  on  her  deck  and  were  deeply  interested  in 
the  scene  about  them.  As  they  steamed  out  around  the 
breakwater,  they  had  a  fine  view  of  Table  Bay  and  the 
mountains  that  surround  it.  Then  they  passed  a  series 
of  cliff-like  mountains,  known  as  the  Twelve  Apostles, 
and  after  them  some  brightly  colored  mountains  that  had 
a  dazzling  appearance  in  the  bright  sunlight.  Thirty 
miles  from  Cape  Town  they  passed  the  famous  Cape  of 
Good  Hope,  which  is  popularly  but  erroneously  supposed 
to  be  the  southern  end  of  the  continent :  the  fact  is  that 
the  point  of  Africa  nearest  to  the  South  Pole  is  Cape 
Agulhas,  sixty  or  seventy  miles  away  from  the  Cape  of 
Good  Hope. 

Down  to  Cape  Agulhas  the  steamer  had  followed  the 
coast  line.      Now  it  steered  away  from  the  coast,  and  grad- 


A.2  THE    LAM)    OF    THE    KANGAROO. 

ually  the  mountains  of  the  southern  end  of  Africa  faded 
and  became  dim  in  the  distance,  and  gradually  disappeared 
altogether  from  sight.  Our  friends  were  now  upon  the 
great  Southern  Ocean,  which  sweeps  entirely  around  this 
part  of  the  globe. 

"  We  have  a  long  voyage  before  us  now,"'  said  Harry 
to  Ned;  "we  have  sixteen  days  of  steaming,  so  one  of 
the  officers  tells  me,  before  we  reach  the  coast  of  Aus- 
tralia." 

"  Well,  if  that  is  the  case/'  Ned  answered,  "  we  have 
plenty  of  time  to  become  acquainted  with  the  Southern 
Ocean.  I  wonder  if  it  will  be  very  different  from  the 
Atlantic." 

"  As  to  that,"  replied  Harry,  "  I  don't  know,  but  I  have 
no  doubt  it  has  peculiarities  of  its  own.  We  will  see 
about  that  later." 

Flocks  of  birds  accompanied  the  ship  as  it  steamed 
away  from  the  coast.  Some  were  familiar  sights  to  our 
young  friends,  and  some  were  new  to  them,  or  compara- 
tivelv  so.  The  next  day  and  the  few  succeeding  days 
made  them  acquainted  with  several  birds  that  they  had 
never  seen,  and  the  boys  were  so  interested  in  them  that 
Harrv  wrote  a  description,  which  we  will  presently  con- 
sider. But  before  doing  so,  however,  we  will  look  at  a 
note  which  Ned  made  concerning  the  waves  of  the  South- 
ern Ocean. 

"The  waves  of  this  part  of  the  boundless  waste  of 
waters  that  covers  three  fourths  of  the  globe,"  said  Ned, 
in  his  journal,  "  are  the  largest  we  have  ever  seen.  The 
prevailing  winds  are  westerly,  and  the  captain  tells  us  that 


THE    CAPE    OF    GOOD    HOPE.  43 

they  drive  a  continuous  series  of  waves  right  around  the 
globe.     You  have  heard  of  the  long  swell  of  the  Pacific, 

but  it  is  not,  at  least  in  the  Northern  Hemisphere,  any- 
where equal  to  the  immense  swells  of  the  Southern  Ocean. 
I  have  never  seen  waves  that  began  to  be  as  large.  The 
captain  says  that  the  crests  are  often  thirty  feet  high,  and 
three  hundred  and  ninety  feet  apart.  Sir  James  Ross,  in 
in  his  Anctartic  expedition,  measured  waves  thirty-six  feet 
high,  and  said  that  when  two  ships  were  in  the  hollows  of 
two  adjoining  waves,  their  hulls  were  completely  con- 
cealed from  each  other  by  the  crest  of  water  between 
them.  This  great  steamer,  measuring  nearly  five  thou- 
sand tons,  is  rolled  and  tossed  as  if  it  were  nothing  more 
than  an  egg-shell,  and  such  of  the  passengers  as  are  liable 
to  seasickness  are  staying  below  out  of  sight.  Fancy 
what  it  must  be  to  sail  on  this  ocean  in  a  small  craft  of  one 
hundred  or  two  hundred  tons  !  I  think  I  would  prefer  to 
be  on  shore/' 

And  now  we  come  to  Harry's  account  of  the  birds.  He 
wrote  as  follows  :  — 

"  Dr.  Whitney  says  that  I  must  make  a  distinction  be- 
tween land  birds,  coast  birds,  and  ocean  birds.  Land 
birds  are  only  at  sea  by  accident;  coast  birds  are  seen 
only  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  land,  but  ocean  birds  go 
far  out  at  sea,  and  rarely  visit  the  land  except  during  their 
breediiK'  season.  When  you  see  a  land  bird  out  of  sight 
of  the  shore,  you  can  know  that  he  has  been  driven  there 
by  the  wind ;  perhaps  in  a  squall  or  rain  storm.  The 
doctor  tells  me  that  we  can  make  a  general  distinction  be- 
tween the  three   kinds  of  birds,  by  remembering  that  the 


44  THE    LAND    OF    THE    KANGAROO. 

more  the  bird  lives  on  the  land,  the  more  he  flaps  his 
wings,  and  most  land  birds  flap  their  wings  constantly.  A 
few,  like  the  eagle,  condor,  and  other  birds  of  prey,  sail 
about  and  flap  their  wings  occasionally,  but  the  true  ocean 
birds,  as  a  rule,  flap  their  wings  very  little. 

"  An  interesting  flyer  that  we  have  seen  is  the  frigate 
bird,  also  called  the  man-of-war  bird,  which  appears  to 
me  to  be  a  good  deal  of  a  pirate,  as  it  makes  the  most 
of  its  living  by  robbing  others.  When  another  bird  has 
caught  a  fish  the  frigate  bird  attacks  him,  and  takes 
away  his  prize,  catching  it  in  the  air  as  it  falls  from  the 
victim's  claws.  These  birds  follow  the  steamer  or  fly  in 
the  air  above  it,  and  they  seem  to  go  along  very  easily, 
although  the  ship  is  running  at  full  speed.  I  am  told  that, 
on  the  previous  voyage  of  this  ship,  some  of  the  sailors 
caught  two  of  these  birds  and  marked  them  by  attaching 
strips  of  white  cloth  to  their  feet.  Then  the  birds  were 
set  free,  and  they  followed  the  steamer  four  or  five  days 
without  any  apparent  fatigue. 

"  Of  course  we  have  seen  '  Mother  Carey's  Chickens.' 
These  tireless  little  fellows,  that  never  seem  to  rest,  are 
found  in  all  parts  of  the  world  of  waters.  They  have 
been  constantly  about  us,  flying  around  the  ship  but  never 
settling  upon  it,  and  dipping  occasionally  into  the  waters 
behind  us  to  gather  up  crumbs  or  particles  of  food.  The 
other  birds,  which  are  all  much  larger,  would  like  to  de- 
prive them  of  their  sustenance,  but  they  do  not  have  the 
quickness  of  the  little  flyers  on  the  wing.  When  any- 
thing is  thrown  overboard,  they  dart  as  quick  as  a  flash 
under    the   noses  of  the   larger   and   more   clumsy  birds, 


THE    CAPE    OF    GOOD    HOPE.  45 

and  pick  up  a  mouthful  or  two  before  the  latter  can  reach 
them.  Then  there  are  whale  birds,  and  cape  pigeons, 
and  also  the  cape  dove,  which  is  somewhat  larger  than 
the  pigeon,  and  is  also  known  as  the  '  fulmar  petrel.' 

"  But  the  most  interesting  as  well  as  the  largest  of  all  the 
ocean  birds  is  the  albatross.  There  are  two  or  three  kinds 
of  this  bird  ;  the  largest  of  them  has  a  spread  of  wing  vary- 
ing from  twelve  to  fifteen  feet,  and  one  has  been  caught 
measuring  seventeen  feet  from  tip  to  tip.  With  out- 
spread wings,  his  body,  as  he  sails  about  in  the  air,  looks 
as  large  as  a  barrel,  but  when  stripped  of  its  feathers  its 
size  diminishes  very  much.  We  offered  to  pay  a  good 
price  to  the  sailors  if  they  would  catch  an  albatross  for  us, 
but  they  declined  our  proposal  to  catch  one,  and  when  a 
passenger  one  day  wanted  to  shoot  one  which  was  directly 
over  the  steamer,  the  sailors  objected.  We  finally  induced 
them  to  compromise  the  matter  by  catching  an  albatross 
and  letting  it  go  unharmed. 

"  Thev  baited  a  hook  with  a  piece  of  pork  which  was 
attached  to  a  long  line,  and  then  allowed  to  tow  behind 
the  steamer.  We  were  doomed  to  disappointment,  as  the 
albatross,  that  was  then  flying  with  the  ship,  refused  to 
touch  the  bait,  and  it  was  taken  up  by  a  frigate  bird.  It 
is  said  that  the  albatross  is  very  difficult  to  catch,  as  he  is 
exceedingly  wary,  and  constantly  on  the  lookout  for 
tricks.  I  am  told  that  a  live  albatross  standing  on  the 
deck  of  the  ship  is  a  very  handsome  bird.  His  back  is 
white,  his  wings  are  brown,  he  has  a  line  head,  carries 
himself  with  great  dignity,  and  has  a  grand  eye  and 
countenance.       The    bird    has    a    pink    beak    and    pretty 


46  THE    LAND    OF    THE    KANGAROO. 

streaks  of  a  rose  color  on  the  cheeks.  After  death  these 
colors  disappear,  and  are  not  to  be  seen  in  the  stuffed 
specimens  such  as  are  found  in  museums.  A  good-sized 
albatross  weighs  about  twenty  pounds,  though,  as  before 
stated,  he  looks  very  much  larger. 

"  The  wonderful  thing  about  this  bird  is  the  way  he 
sustains  himself  in  the  air.  He  sails  along  above  the 
ship,  though  she  may  be  steaming  fifteen  or  sixteen  miles 
an  hour,  but  he  does  it  all  with  very  little  motion.  Three 
or  four  times  in  an  hour  he  mav  give  one  or  two  ilaps  of 
his  wings,  and  that  is  all  ;  the  rest  is  all  steady  sailing. 
The  outspread  wings  sustain  the  bird,  and  carry  him 
forward  at  the  same  time.  If  any  man  ever  invents  a 
successful  flying  machine,  I  think  he  will  do  so  by  study- 
ing the  movements  of  the  albatross.  It  is  proper  to  say 
that  this  bird  is  not  at  all  courageous,  and  often  gives  up 
the  fish  that  he  catches  to  the  piratical  frigate  bird.  It 
lives  mostly  on  fish,  and  is  very  fond  of  the  carcass  of  a 
dead  whale,  and  they  tell  me  that  the  longer  the  whale 
has  been  dead,  the  better  does  the  albatross  like  it. 

"The  superstition  of  the  sailors  about  its  being  bad 
luck  to  kill  an  albatross  is  not  by  any  means  a  new  one. 
It  is  referred  to  by  old  writers,  and  you  will  find  it  men- 
tioned in  Coleridge's  '  Ancient  Mariner.' 

"  We  have  seen  a  great  many  flying  fish  during  our 
vovage,  but  as  we  have  seen  them  before,  they  are  not  a 
great  curiositv.  The  living  motion  of  this  fish  is  more 
fanciful  than  real.  He  does  not  soar  in  the  air  like  a 
bird,  but  simply  leaps  from  the  crest  of  one  wave  to  the 
crest  of   another.      He  makes   a  single  dash  through  the 


THE    CAPE    OF    GOOD    HOPE.  47 

air,  and  that  is  all.  Sometimes,  when  a  ship  is  in  the  hol- 
low between  two  waves  and  the  flying  fish  is  attempting 
to  make  his  way  across,  he  falls  on  the  deek  of  the  vessel, 
but  he  rarely  gets  more  than  fifteen  or  eighteen  feet  into 
the  air,  and  therefore  does  not  reach  the  deck  of  a  big 
steamer  like  this. 

"  Flying  fish  seem  to  fly  when  disturbed  by  big  fishes, 
or,  possibly,  by  the  commotion  that  a  vessel  creates  in  going 
through  the  water.  There  is  a  good  deal  of  dispute  as  to 
how  long  the  flying  fish  can  stay  out  of  water,  and  the 
longest  time  I  have  heard  any  one  give  to  it  is  thirty 
seconds.  Some  say  that  the  flying  fish  can  stay  in  the 
air  only  while  its  wings  are  wet,  but  that  is  a  point  on 
which  I  do  not  care  to  give  any  opinion,  for  the  simple 
reason  that  I  don't  know." 

Ned  and  Harry  had  kept  the  nautical  instruments  which 
they  carried  over  the  deserts  of  Northern  Africa,  and  they 
amused  themselves  by  taking  daily  observations  and  cal- 
culating the  ship's  position.  Sometimes  they  were  wrong, 
and  sometimes  they  were  right,  Ned  naively  remarking 
that  "the  wrongs  didn't  count."  The  first  officer  of  the 
ship  gave  them  some  assistance  in  their  nautical  observa- 
tions, and,  altogether,  they  got  along  very  well. 

Our  friends  made  the  acquaintance  of  some  of  their 
fellow-passengers  and  found  them  very  agreeable.  The 
majority  were  residents  of  Australia  or  New  Zealand,  who 
had  been  on  visits  to  England  and  were  now  returning 
home.  The  youths  learned  a  great  deal  concerning  the 
country  whither  they  were  bound,  and  the  goodly  portion 
of  the  information  they  received  was  of  practical  value  to 


48  THE    LAND    OF    THE    KANGAROO. 

them.  They  made  copious  notes  of  what  they  heard,  and 
some  of  the  information  that  they  gleaned  will  appear  later 
in  these  pages. 

In  due  time  they  sighted  the  coast  of  Australia  at  its 
western  extremity,  known  as  Cape  Leeuwin,  but  the  sight 
was  not  especially  picturesque,  as  the  mountains  around  the 
cape  are  of  no  great  height.  After  passing  Cape  Leeuwin, 
the  steamer  held  her  course  steadily  to  the  west,  gradually 
leaving  the  shore  out  of  sight.  She  was  passing  along  the 
front  of  what  is  called  the  Great  Australian  Bight,  an 
indentation  in  the  land  twelve  hundred  miles  long,  and 
bounded  on  the  north  by  a  region  of  desolation. 

"  It  is  a  desolate  coast,"  said  one  of  the  passengers  to 
Harry,  "  and  is  so  destitute  of  water  that  no  settlements 
have  or  can  be  made  upon  it.  Mr.  Eyre,  who  was  after- 
wards governor  of  Jamaica,  endeavored  to  explore  that 
coast,  and  had  a  terrible  time  of  it.  He  was  an  entire  year 
making  the  journey  of  twelve  hundred  miles,  and  suffered 
the  most  terrible  hardships." 


CHAPTER   III. 

A    LAND    OF    CONTRADICTIONS TRANSPORTATION 

TO    AUSTRALIA. 

»  T  TQW  long  is  it  since  Mr.  Eyre  made  this  journey?" 

n      1 1  any  asked. 

"  It  was  a  good  while  ago,"  the  gentleman  an- 
swered, "in  the  years  1839  and  1840.  Mr.  Eyre  had 
explored  a  portion  of  the  western  shore  of  Spencer  Gulf, 
and  while  doing  so,  determined  to  make  the  attempt  to  travel 
along  the  shore  of  the  Great  Australian  Bight.  One  of 
the  first  difficulties  that  opposed  him  was  the  scarcity  of 
fresh  water.  There  were  numerous  gullies,  showing  that 
in  times  of  rain  there  was  plenty  of  water,  but  no  rain  had 
fallen  for  a  long  time  and  all  these  gullies  were  dry.  A 
few  springs  were  found,  but  these  were  generally  brackish 
and  the  water  was  hardly  drinkable. 

"  Mr.  Eyre  tried  the  experiment  of  sinking  a  cask  in  the 
ground,  near  the  edge  of  the  sea,  in  the  hope  of  obtaining 
fresh  water,  but  his  experiments  in  this  direction  were  not 
successful.  By  the  time  he  had  advanced  two  hundred 
miles,  he  had  lost  four  of  his  horses.  The  reduction  in  the 
number  of  his  pack  animals  made  it  impossible  for  him  to 
carry  sufficient  provisions  for  his  party,  and  he  therefore 
sent  back  his  only  white  companion  and  three  of  his  men. 
Then  he  continued  his  journey  with  his  overseer  and  three 
natives,  one  of  the  latter  being  his  personal  servant. 

49 


50  THE    LAM)    OF    THE    KANGAROO. 

"In  order  to  be  sure  of  water,  Mr.  Eyre  explored  in  ad- 
vance of  the  party,  and  sometimes  was  gone  four  or  five 
days  before  finding  any.  One  by  one  the  horses  died  of 
thirst,  and  the  only  way  the  men  could  keep  alive  was  by 
gathering  the  dew,  which  fell  at  night,  by  means  of  sponges 
and  rags. 

"The  natives  complained  at  their  hardships,  and  one 
night  the  two  men  took  possession  of  the  guns,  killed  the 
overseer,  and  ran  away,  leaving  Mr.  Eyre  with  only  his 
native  servant  and  a  very  small  stock  of  provisions.  They 
were  then  about  midway  on  the  journey  ;  that  is,  they  had 
still  six  hundred  miles  to  travel  to  reach  the  settled  parts  of 
West  Australia.  The  entire  supply  of  provisions  that  they 
had  was  four  gallons  of  water,  forty  pounds  of  flour,  and 
a  portion  of  a  dead  horse.  They  had  to  go  nearly  two 
hundred  miles  before  finding  any  more  water,  and  lived  on 
horse-flesh,  with  occasional  game  and  fish,  and  a  little  flour 
paste.  Just  as  they  were  about  to  lie  down  and  die  in  the 
desert  they  saw  a  sail  in  the  distance. 

"  They  built  a  fire  on  the  beach  as  a  signal,  and,  luckily 
for  them,  it  was  observed.  The  vessel  came  in  quite  near 
the  land  and  sent  a  boat  to  their  assistance.  The  ship 
proved  to  be  an  American  whaler  that  was  cruising  about 
the  Australian  Bight  in  pursuit  of  whales,  and  the  captain 
invited  them  to  stay  on  board  as  long  as  they  liked.  They 
remained  there  two  weeks,  and  were  then  put  ashore  at 
the  same  spot  whence  they  had  gone  on  board.  The  cap- 
tain supplied  them  with  all  the  provisions  and  water  they 
could  carry.  Mr.  Eyre  was  determined  to  complete  his 
journey,  if  possible,  and  his  faithful  servant  consented  to 


A    LAND    OF    CONTRADICTIONS.  5 1 

remain  with  him.  They  struggled  on  for  two  or  three 
weeks  longer,  when  they  reached  the  first  of  the  settle- 
merits  on  King  George's  Sound." 

"  Has  anvbodv  else  ever  tried  to  make  the  same  jonr- 
ney  ?  "  Harry  asked. 

k>  Not  under  the  same  circumstances."  was  the  reply. 
"  I  believe  that  a  well-equipped  exploring  party  was  sent  out 
some  twelve  or  fifteen  years  ago.  to  travel  along  the  coast 
and  look  for  gold.  Water  and  provisions  were  supplied 
every  few  davs  by  a  small  steamer  that  kept  near  the 
shore  and  went  in  when  signaled  by  the  travelers.  In  this 
way,  suffering  from  hunger  and  thirst  was  avoided  and 
the  animals  of  the  expedition  were  well  supplied  with 
forage.  The  enterprise  was  not  a  successful  one  so  far 
as  the  finding  of  gold  was  concerned,  but  I  have  little 
doubt  that  one  of  these  days  gold  will  be  discovered  there  : 
and  if  it  should  be,  some  way  will  be  found  for  softening 
the  asperities  of  this  desolate  coast." 

"  I  have  heard,"  said  Harry,  "that  a  great  part  of 
Australia  is  destitute  of  water.      Is  that  really  the   case?" 

"  Yes,"  the  gentleman  answered  ;  "  you  have  been  cor- 
rectly informed.  Australia  is  a  waterless  country,  or,  at 
any  rate,  that  is  the  case  with  a  great  part  of  it.  The 
interior  has  never  been  fully  explored  for  this  reason,  and 
there  are  thousands,  I  might  say  millions,  of  square  miles 
of  Australian  country  where  no  human  foot  has  ever  trod. 
Manv  attempts  have  been  made  to  penetrate  this  desolate 
region,  but  all  have  resulted  in  failure. 

••  Water,  as  you  know,  is  an  absolute  necessity  for  man 
and  animals,  and  there  is  a  limit  to  the   amount  which   an 


52  THE    LAND    OF    THE    KANGAROO. 

expedition  can  carry,  just  as  there  is  a  limit  to  the  food 
that  one  may  take  on  a  journey.  There  are  parts  of 
Australia  where  rain  seems  never  to  fall,  or,  if  it  does,  the 
intervals  are  so  rare  and  irregular  that  no  reliance  can  be 
placed  on  them.  Explorers  cannot  stop  to  dig  wells  hun- 
dreds of  feet  in  depth,  and  it  is  certain  that  no  ordinary 
amount  of  digging  will  procure  water.  The  atmosphere 
is  dry,  terribly  dry,  as  all  who  have  attempted  to  penetrate 
into  the  interior  will  tell  you. 

"Instruments,  and  cases  made  of  the  best  seasoned 
wood — wood  that  has  been  dried  for  years  and  years  — 
crack  and  split  and  go  to  pieces  in  the  dry  atmosphere  of 
the  interior  of  Australia.  Leather  becomes  brittle,  and 
cracks  and  breaks  when  the  slightest  pressure  is  put  upon 
it.  One  exploring  expedition  was  obliged  to  turn  back  in 
consequence  of  the  drying  up  and  cracking  of  the  wood 
contained  in  its  instruments  and  their  cases.  The  evapo- 
ration from  one's  skin  is  very  rapid  under  such  circum- 
stances, and  produces  an  agonizing  thirst,  which  is  no 
doubt  intensified  by  the  knowledge  of  the  scarcity  of  water 
and  the  necessity  of  using  the  supply  on  hand  with  great 
care." 

kk  I  have  heard,"  said  Ned,  "  that  Australia  is  a  land  of 
contradictions  as  compared  with  England  and  the  United 
States.  I  read  in  a  book  somewhere  that  nearly  every- 
thing in  nature  was  the  reverse  of  what  it  was  in  the 
countries  I  mentioned." 

"  That  is  true,"  said  the  gentleman  with  whom  they 
were  conversing,  "  and  I  will  tell  you  several  things  to 
demonstrate  the  correctness  of  what  you  say.      In  the  first 


A    LAND    OF    CONTRADICTIONS.  53 

place,  Australia  is  on  the  other  side  of  the  world  from 
England  and  the  United  States,  and  that  circumstance 
ought  to  prepare  you  for  the  other  peculiarities.  Most 
countries  are  fertile  in  their  interior ;  but,  as  I  have  told 
you,  the  interior  of  Australia  is  a  land  of  desolation,  where 
neither  man  nor  beast  can  live.  I  have  been  told  that 
birds  never  fly  in  the  interior  of  /Australia  ;  and  certainly 
if  I  were  a  bird,  I  would  not  fly  there  nor  anywhere 
near  it. 

"We  have  very  few  rivers,  and  none  of  them  come 
from  far  in  the  interior.  Most  of  them  are  low  in  summer 
or  altogether  dried  up.  There  is  only  one  river,  the 
Murray,  that  can  be  relied  upon  to  have  any  reasonable 
depth  of  water  in  it  throughout  the  entire  year.  The 
other  rivers  dwindle  almost  to  nothing,  and,  as  I  have 
said,  entirely  disappear.  The  greater  part  of  the  country 
is  absolutely  without  trees,  and  the  dense  forests  which 
vou  have  in  America  are  practically  unknown.  We  have 
summer  when  you  have  winter,  and  we  have  night  when 
vou  have  day.  When  you  are  in  your  own  country,  and 
I  am  here,  our  feet  are  nearer  together  than  our  heads  ; 
that  is  to  sav,  our  feet  are  pressing  the  ground  on  opposite 
sides  of  the  earth,  and  so  we  may  be  said  to  be  standing 
upon  each  other." 

"That  is  so,"  remarked  Harry:  "I  was  thinking  of 
that  this  morning.  I  noticed  also  that  the  ship's  compass 
pointed  to  the  south,  and  that  the  sun  was  traveling  along 
the  northern  heavens.  I  observed,  too,  that  the  south  wind 
was  cold,  and  the  north  wind  hot." 

"You    are   quite    right,"  said  the  gentleman;    "and   if 


54  THE    LAND    OF    THE    KANGAROO. 

you  have  been  studying  the  barometer,  you  have  found 
that  it  falls  with  the  northerly  wind  and  rises  with  the 
southerly  one.  When  you  travel  over  the  country,  you 
will  find  that  the  valleys  are  cool  and  the  mountain  tops 
warm.  The  bees  have  no  sting,  and  many  of  the  beau- 
tiful flowers  have  no  smell.  The  leaves  of  the  trees  are 
nearly  always  perpendicular  instead  of  horizontal,  as  in 
your  country,  and  consequently  one  gets  very  little  shade 
under  an  Australian  tree." 

"I  have  heard,"  said  Ned,  "that  the  trees  shed  their 
bark  instead  of  their  leaves.     Is  that  really  so  ?  " 

"It  is  so  with  most  of  the  trees,"  was  the  reply;  "in 
fact,  with  nearly  all  of  them.  A  few  shed  their  leaves 
every  year,  and  on  many  of  the  trees  the  leaves  remain 
unchanged,  while  the  bark  is  thrown  off.  One  tree  is 
called  the  stringy  bark,  on  account  of  the  ragged  appear- 
ance of  its  covering  at  the  time  it  is  shed. 

"In  your  part  of  the  world,"  the  gentleman  continued, 
"cherries  grow  with  the  stones  inside  ;  but  here  in  Aus- 
tralia we  have  cherries  with  the  stones  on  the  outside.  We 
have  birds  of  beautiful  plumage  and  very  little  song  ;  the 
owls  are  quiet  at  night,  and  screech  and  hoot  in  the  day- 
time, which  certainly  is  not  a  characteristic  of  the  English 
or  American  owl.  The  geological  formation  of  the  country 
is  also  peculiar,  and  the  scientific  men  who  have  come 
here  from  England  and  America  are  a  good  deal  puzzled 
at  the  state  of  affairs  they  find  in  Australia.  Would  it 
not  surprise  you  to  learn  that  we  have  coal  in  this  country 
as  white  as  chalk  ?  " 

"That  is,    indeed,   a   surprise,"  one  of  the  youths  re- 


A    LAND    OF    CONTRADICTIONS.  55 

marked.  "  I  wonder  if  the  conditions  are  continued  so 
that  your  chalk  is  black." 

"The  contrasts  do  not  go  quite  so  far  as  that,"  said 
the  gentleman,  with  a  laugh,  "  as  the  chalk  of  Australia 
is  as  white  as  that  of  England.  I  don't  mean  to  say  that 
all  our  coal  is  white,  but  only  the  coal  of  certain  localities. 
It  generally  takes  the  stranger  by  surprise  to  see  a  grate- 
ful of  white  coal  burning  brightly,  and  throwing  out  smoke 
at  the  same  time.  I  must  tell  you  that  this  coal  is  bitu- 
minous, and  not  anthracite." 

"  I  hope,"  said  Ned,  "that  men's  heads  do  not  grow 
out  of  their  sides,  or  from  their  breasts,  and  that  they  do 
not  walk  topsy-turvy,  with  their  feet  in  the  air." 

"  No,  they  are  not  as  bad  as  that,"  was  the  reply  ;  "  but 
you  will  see  some  queer  things  before  you  are  through 
with  Australia.  Bear  in  mind  that  the  country  contains  no 
antiquities  of  any  kind ;  it  is  a  new  land  in  every  sense, 
as  it  was  first  settled  in  1788,  and  all  these  cities  are  of 
modern  foundation  and  growth." 

Our  young  friends  thanked  the  gentleman  for  the  infor- 
mation he  had  given  them,  and  said  they  would  specially 
bear  in  mind  the  comparisons  and  contrasts  which  he  had 
indicated  in  their  brief  conversation. 

The  first  stopping  place  of  the  ship  was  at  Adelaide,  in 
South  Australia,  from  which  place  she  proceeded  around 
the  coast  to  Melbourne.  Our  friends  decided  to  land  at 
Adelaide,  and  go  overland  through  that  city  wherever  the 
railway  would  take  them.  They  thought  that  by  so  doing 
they  would  be  able  to  see  a  great  deal  more  on  their  way 
to  Melbourne  than  if  they  continued  aboard  the  ship. 


56  THE    LAND    OF    THE    KANGAROO. 

Harry  had  obtained  a  map  of  Australia  on  the  day 
before  their  arrival  at  Adelaide.  He  was  busily  engaged 
in  studying  it. 

"Just  look  a  moment,"  said  Harry  to  Ned,  as  he  spread 
the  map  out  on  one  of  the  tables  in  the  saloon;  "  here  is 
another  contradiction  that  our  friend  didn't  include.  Look 
at  it." 

"Well,  what  of  it?"  said  Ned.  "  It  is  a  map  of  Aus- 
tralia, is  it  not?  " 

"  Yes,  it  is,  and  just  look  at  the  provinces  or  colonies  of 
Australia.  Here  is  West  Australia,  as  its  name  indicates, 
at  the  western  end  of  the  great  island  or  continent.  Here 
are  Queensland,  New  South  Wales,  and  Victoria,  and  here 
is  South  Australia,  where  we  are  going  to  land.  Adelaide 
is  its  capital." 

"  Well,  what  of  it?  "  queried  Ned,  with  an  expression  of 
curiosity  on  his  face. 

"Why,  don't  you  see,"  said  Harry,  in  a  tone  of  impa- 
tience, "  that  South  Australia  is  not  South  Australia  at  all. 
Here  is  Victoria,  which  runs  further  south  than  this  colony, 
and  then  you  see  South  Australia  runs  clear  across  the 
continent  to  the  northern  side,  and  almost  as  far  north  as 
the  extreme  point  of  Queensland.  They  ought  to  change 
the  name  of  it,  or  else  divide  it  into  two  colonies,  calling 
this  one  by  its  present  name,  and  the  other  North  Australia." 

Ned  admitted  the  force  of  the  argument,  and  then  joined 
his  cousin  in  studying  the  map.  Strange  to  say,  the  middle 
section  or  unexplored  region  had  a  singular  fascination  for 
both  the  youths,  and  each  confided  to  the  other  that  he 
would  like  to  undertake  the  exploration  of  that  part  of  the 


HARRY  HAD   OBTAINED  A  MAP  OF  AUSTRALIA.' 


A    LAND    OF    CONTRADICTIONS.  57 

continent.  They  wondered  whether  Dr.  Whitney  would 
entertain  their  proposal  to  do  so,  but  finally  concluded  that 
the  hardships  would  be  too  great,  and  they  would  say  noth- 
ing about  their  aspirations. 

In  due  time  the  steamer  came  to  anchor  at  Port  Adelaide. 
The  harbor  of  the  capital  city  is  not  on  the  sea,  but  seven 
miles  away  from  it,  on  the  banks  of  the  small  river  Tor- 
fens.  The  railway  connects  the  port  with  the  city,  and 
shortly  after  getting  ashore  our  friends  were  seated  in  a 
train,  which  carried  them  quickly  to  the  capital.  One  of 
the  passengers  told  Xed  that  the  port  was  formerly  quite 
shallow  and  difficult  to  enter.  The  entrance  at  present  is 
between  two  large  shoals  of  sand,  which  are  marked  by 
lio-hthouses.  A  great  deal  of  money  has  been  expended  in 
deepening  and  widening  the  harbor,  so  that  it  is  now  acces- 
sible for  large  ships. 

A  long  pier  extends  into  St.  Vincent's  Gulf,  the  body 
of  water  on  which  the  port  stands,  and  this  pier  is  quite 
popular  as  a  promenade  for  the  people  living  at  the  port, 
and  also  for  those  who  come  down  from  the  city. 

Harry  observed  that  the  dock  and  pier  accommodations 
were  excellent.  There  were  immense  sheds,  and  ware- 
houses for  the  storage  of  grain,  wool,  and  other  products 
of  the  country  while  awaiting  shipment,  and  equally  exten- 
sive shelters  for  merchandise  arriving  at  the  port  on  its 
way  to  the  city  and  to  other  parts  of  the  colony.  There 
were  dry  docks  and  repairing  yards,  and  there  were  hos- 
pitals for  sick  sailors  and  others,  together  with  the  usual 
public  buildings  of  a  prosperous  seaport.  Immense  quan- 
tities of  wool  and  frozen  meat  are  shipped  from  this  port 


58  THE    LAND    OF    THE    KANGAROO. 

to  England,  and  the  trade  of  the  colony  with  the  mother 
country  is  said  to  be  increasing  every  year. 

It  was  about  the  middle  of  the  afternoon  when  our 
friends  landed,  and  in  less  than  half  an  hour  after  landing 
they  were  in  the  city.  One  of  their  steamer  acquaintances 
had  directed  them  to  a  hotel,  and,  in  fact,  accompanied 
them  to  it,  so  that  they  had  the  advantage  of  his  personal 
guidance  and  introduction.  Harry  made  a  memorandum 
in  his  notebook  that  they  found  the  hotel  quite  a  good 
one,  certainly  much  better  than  the  hotel  where  they 
stopped  at  Cape  Town. 

After  settling  themselves  in  the  hotel  the  party  went  out 
for  a  stroll,  but,  in  consequence  of  the  heat,  they  were  not 
long  in  turning  their  stroll  into  a  drive.  Here  is  what  Ned 
says  of  their  first  day  in  Adelaide  :  — 

"This  city  recalls  Chicago  more  than  any  other  place 
I  can  think  of.  It  is  on  a  level  plain,  with  the  exception 
of  the  portion  to  the  north  where  the  ground  rises  a  little, 
and  the  streets  are  laid  out  at  right  angles,  as  though  a 
chess-board  had  been  taken  as  a  model  for  the  place. 
We  have  wondered  why  it  was  called  Adelaide  instead  of 
Mary  Ann,  Betsy,  or  some  other  feminine  name ;  Dr. 
Whitney  has  just  told  us  that  the  city  was  laid  out  in  1837 
and  named  in  honor  of  the  queen  of  King  William  IV., 
who  was  then  the  ruler  of  England. 

"  Having  named  the  place  in  honor  of  the  queen,  the 
founders  of  the  city  felt  that  the  next  thing  to  do  was  to 
call  the  principal  street  after  the  king.  Thus  it  happens 
that  the  great  street,  the  one  most  built  upon,  and  where 
the  majority  of  the  shops  are  concentrated,  is  King  William 


A    LAND    OF    CONTRADICTIONS.  59 

Street.  It  is  a  broad  avenue  running  from  south  to  north, 
and  divides  the  city  almost  equally.  It  is  certainly  a  very 
handsome  avenue,  and  we  greatly  enjoyed  our  drive  upon 
it.  Most  of  the  public  buildings,  the  town  hall,  post- 
office,  government  offices,  and  the  like,  are  on  King 
William  Street,  and  they  are  very  handsome  structures. 

"The  people  are  very  proud  of  these  edifices,  and  well 
they  may  be,  as  they  would  be  ornaments  to  any  city  ten 
times  as  old  and  large  as  Adelaide.  The  principal  banks, 
newspaper  offices,  and  business  structures  generally  are 
also  on  King  William  Street,  and  to  judge  by  the  crowds 
of  people  that  throng  the  sidewalks,  one  might  conclude 
that  the  population  was  a  busy  one.  One  thing  that 
attracted  our  attention  was  the  great  number  of  churches, 
which  certainly  gave  us  the  impression  that  the  population 
of  Adelaide  is  decidedly  religious,  and  also  that  its  zeal  in 
religion  had  led  it  to  contribute  freely  to  the  erection  of 
places  of  worship.  Our  driver  pointed  out  the  various 
churches  and  told  us  their  denomination.  Of  course  the 
Church  of  England  was  ahead  of  the  others,  as  is  ex- 
pected to  be  the  case  in  a  British  colony." 

"I  learned  afterwards,"  said  Ned,  "that  there  were 
nearly  one  thousand  churches  and  chapels  in  the  colony  of 
South  Australia,  together  with  nearly  live  hundred  other 
buildings  that  are  occasionally  used  for  religious  worship. 
All  the  churches  are  supported  by  voluntary  contributions, 
there  being  no  State  aid  to  any  of  them.  At  the  last  census 
of  the  colony  there  were  76,000  adherents  of  the  Church  of 
England,  43,000  Roman  Catholics,  and  42,000  Metho- 
dists.    Then   came   the  Lutherans,  with  20,000  ;  Presby- 


60  THE    LAND    OF    THE    KANGAROO. 

terians,  with  18,000 ;  Baptists,  with  14,000 ;  and  about 
10,000  each  of  primitive  Methodists,  Congregationalists, 
and  Bible  Christians.  There  were  several  other  denomina- 
tions, but  their  numbers  were  insignificant.  We  looked 
for  pagodas  while  driving  along  the  street,  but  none  of 
them  were  to  be  found,  and  we  learned  on  inquiry  that  the 
number  of  Chinese  and  Moslems  in  South  Australia  was 
hardly  worth  mentioning.  The  colony  has  never  been 
attractive  to  the  Chinese,  and  few  of  them  have  en- 
deavored to  find  homes  there. 

"  We  drove  to  the  resident  portion  of  the  citv  and  saw 
a  goodly  number  of  private  houses  of  the  better  sort.  A 
great  deal  of  taste  has  been  displayed  in  the  construction 
of  these  houses,  and  we  derived  the  impression  that  Ade- 
laide was  a  decidedly  prosperous  city.  The  wheat-grow- 
ing industry  of  South  Australia  is  a  very  large  one. 
Many  of  the  great  farmers  have  their  residences  in 
Adelaide  and  spend  only  a  small  portion  of  their  time  on 
their  farms,  leaving  all  details  to  their  managers.  A  con- 
siderable  amount  of  American  farming  machinery  finds 
its  way  to  South  Australia,  where  it  has  attained  a  well- 
deserved  popularity." 

While  our  friends  were  at  breakfast  the  next  morning, 
Harry  suggested  that  if  the  others  were  willing,  he  would 
like  to  see  one  of  the  Australian  prisons  containing  con- 
victs that  had  been  transported  from  England. 

The  doctor  smiled,  —  just  a  faint  smile, — while  Ned 
laughed. 

"  Oh,  you  are  all  wrong,  Harry,"  said  Ned.  "They 
gave  up  that  business  long  ago.     I  was  under  the  same 


A    LAND    OF    CONTRADICTIONS.  6l 

impression  that  you  are,   but   learned  better  from  one  of 
our  fellow-passengers.      I   meant  to  tell  you  about  it." 

"Well,  I  will  acknowledge  my  mistake,"  said  Harry. 
-We  are  all  liable  to  make  blunders,  and  that  is  one  of 

them." 

"  Quite  true,"  Dr.  Whitney  remarked.  "  Every  visitor 
to  a  country  that  is  strange  to  him  makes  a  great  many 
mistakes,  and  the  frank  thing  is  to  acknowledge  it.*' 

"  The  o-entleman  who  corrected  my  blunder,"  said  Ned, 
"  told  me  that  an  American  visitor  who  was  very  fond  of 
hunting  landed  once  in  Sydney,  fresh  from  the  United 
States.  The  hunting  fever  was  strong  in  him,  and  before 
he  was  an  hour  on  shore  he  asked  the  clerk  of  the  hotel 
where  he  could  go  to  shoot  Sydney  ducks.  He  had  heard 
of  them,  and  would  like  to  bag  a  few  brace." 

"  What  is  the  point  of  the  joke?  "  said  Harry  ;  "  I  con- 
fess I  cannot  see  it." 

"  That  is  exactly  what  I  said  to  my  informant,"  replied 
Xed,  "  and  then  he  went  on  and  told  me  that  in  former 
times  Australian  convicts  were  spoken  of  as  Sydney 
ducks." 

"Oh!  I  see,"  said  Harry,  "that  is  a  very  good  joke 
when  you  come  to  know  all  about  it.  What  did  the  clerk 
of  the  hotel  say  to  the  inquiring  stranger.-  " 

"I  don't  know,"  replied  Xed,  "  but  I  presume  he  told 
him  that  Sydney  ducks  had  gone  out  of  fashion,  and  were 
not  being  shot  any  more.  Probably  he  let  the  man  down 
as  gently  as  possible." 

••How  did  the  convicts  come  to  have  the  name  of 
Sydney  ducks?"  Harry  asked. 


62  THE    LAND    OF    THE    KANGAROO. 

"  I  can't  tell  you,  I  am  sure,"  said  Ned,  "you  will  have 
to  ask  the  doctor  about  it." 

"  The  name  came,  no  doubt,"  said  Dr.  Whitney,  "  from 
the  circumstance  that  the  first  convicts  who  were  brought 
to  Australia  were  landed  at  Sydney,  and  for  a  good  many 
years  Sydney  was  the  principal  depot  of  these  involuntary 
emigrants.  The  adoption  of  Australia  as  the  place  for 
convict  settlement  was  brought  about  by  events  in  America, 
a  statement  which  may  surprise  you." 

"  It  certainly  is  surprising,"  Harry  remarked.  "  How 
did  it  happen?  " 

'•It  came  about  in  this  way,"  the  doctor  continued; 
k>  when  America  was  subject  to  England,  offenders  of 
various  kinds,  whether  political  or  criminal,  were  sent  to 
the  American  colonies,  principally  to  the  Southern  States 
and  the  West  Indies,  where  they  were  chiefly  employed  in 
the  cultivation  of  tobacco.  The  consumption  of  tobacco 
in  England  was  very  large,  and  the  revenue  derived  from 
it  was  considerable.  Consequently  England  was  able  to 
kill  two  birds  with  one  stone  ;  she  got  rid  of  her  crimi- 
nals, at  the  same  time,  and  made  a  large  profit  on  their 
work. 

11  When  the  American  colonies  revolted  in  1775,  and 
gained  their  independence  eight  years  later,  England 
found  herself  deprived  of  a  place  to  which  she  could  send 
her  convicts,  and  she  looked  around  for  another.  She 
tried  the  coast  of  Africa,  and  found  it  too  unhealthy  for 
her  purpose.  Captain  Cook  had  recently  visited  Australia 
and  given  a  glowing  account  of  it,  and  the  government 
officials  thought  that  this  new  country  would  be  an  excel- 


A    LAND    OF    CONTRADICTIONS.  63 

lent  one  for  criminals.  Orders  were  given  for  sending 
out  a  fleet  of  ships  for  that  purpose  ;  and,  accordingly, 
eleven  vessels,  carrying  more  than  one  thousand  people, 
sailed  for  Portsmouth  in  the  month  of  March,  1787,  with 
orders  to  proceed  to  Australia." 

"  If  England  had  known  what  was  to  happen,"  said 
Harry,  "  she  need  not  have  been  at  the  trouble  of  sending 
her  criminals  so  far  away  ;  she  might  have  kept  on  with 
America  with  only  slight  interruptions.  She  is  sending  us 
her  criminals  and  paupers  at  present,  though  she  does  not 
designate  them  properly  when  she  ships  them,  and  most 
of  the  continental  nations  are  doing  the  same  thing.  We 
are  trying  to  prevent  it,  but  I  don't  believe  we  succeed  to 
a  very  great  extent." 

"Did  they  send  a  thousand  convicts  to  Australia  in  this 
first  batch?"  queried  Ned. 

"There  were  about  one  thousand  people  altogether," 
said  Dr.  Whitney,  "including  757  convicts,  and  among 
the  convicts  were  190  women  and  eighteen  children. 
They  had  160  soldiers  to  guard  the  prisoners,  with  a 
sufficient  number  of  officers,  and  forty  of  the  soldiers 
were  accompanied  by  their  wives.  They  had  on  the  ships 
a  goodly  quantity  of  cattle,  sheep,  horses,  pigs,  and  goats, 
and  a  large  quantity  of  seeds  from  various  parts  of  the 
world  was  sent  out.  It  was  not  expected  that  the  colony 
would  be  self-supporting  for  some  time,  and  so  it  was 
arranged  that  supply  ships  laden  with  flour  and  other  pro- 
visions should  be  sent  from  England  at  regular  intervals. 
A  year  or  two  after  the  colony  was  founded  one  of  these 
ships  was  wrecked  on  its  way  to  Australia,  and  the   colo- 


6\  THE    LAND    OF    THE    KANGAROO. 

nists  suffered  greatly  for  want  of  food.  Among  the  sup- 
plies taken  by  each  ship  there  was  usually  a  fresh  batch 
of  convicts,  and  quite  regularly  convict  ships  were  de- 
spatched from  England  to  Australia." 

Ned  remarked  that  he  thought  a  convict  ship  would  not 
be  a  pleasant  craft  to  travel  on.  A  good  many  people  did 
not  like  crossing  the  Atlantic  on  cattle  ships,  but  he  thought 
the  cattle  ship  would  be  far  preferable  to  one  laden  with 
convicts. 

"And  so  it  is,"  replied  the  doctor.  "According  to  all 
accounts,  the  life  on  board  a  convict  ship  from  England  to 
Australia  was  terrible.  Remember  that  in  those  days 
prisoners  were  treated  with  great  harshness  ;  they  were  not 
supposed  to  have  any  feelings  and  were  never  spoken  to 
kindly,  and  in  many  instances  an  order  was  usually  accom- 
panied by  a  kick  or  a  blow.  During  the  voyage  the  pris- 
oners were  allowed  on  deck  one  hour  or  possibly  two  hours 
of  each  day,  care  being  taken  that  only  a  small  number 
would  be  there  at  any  one  time. 

"For  the  rest  of  the  twenty-four  hours  they  were  shut 
up  in  close,  stifling  pens  or  cages,  generally  with  nothing 
but  a  little  straw  to  sleep  on,  and  they  were  fed  with  the 
coarsest  and  poorest  food.  Coffee  and  tea  with  hard  bread 
formed  their  breakfast ;  dinner  was  the  same,  with  some- 
times the  addition  of  a  piece  of  heavily  salted  beef,  so  hard 
that  it  was  no  easy  matter  to  cut  it  into  mouthfuls.  Supper 
was  the  same  as  breakfast,  and  this  was  kept  up  with  hardly 
any  variation. 

"  The  slightest  infraction  of  the  rules  was  punished  with 
the  lash,  but  this  did  not  deter  the  criminals  from  making 


A    LAND    OF    CONTRADICTIONS.  65 

trouble.  Constantly  the  boatswain  and  his  assistants  were 
kept  busy  in  performing  the  floggings  that  were  ordered, 
and  sometimes  the  cat-o'-nine-tails  was  in  steady  use  from 
sunrise  to  sunset.  The  more  severe  his  discipline,  the 
more  highly  an  officer  was  regarded  by  his  superiors,  and 
if  he  occasionally  hanged  a  few  men,  it  rather  advanced 
than  retarded  his  promotion.  A  good  many  died  on  the 
voyage  from  England  to  Australia,  partly  in  consequence 
of  their  scanty  fare  and  the  great  heat  of  the  tropics  ;  but, 
according  to  tradition,  a  very  large  proportion  of  the  mor- 
tality was  the  result  of  brutal  treatment  and  privations. 

"The    passengers    on   the    convict  ship,"    said    Harry, 
"seem  to  have  been  treated  pretty  much  like   those  on 

slave  ships." 

"You  are  not  far  wrong  there,"  the  doctor  replied; 
"  the  sufferings  of  convicts  on  their  way  to  Australia  were 
not  altogether  unlike  those  of  the  unhappy  negroes  that 
were  formerly  taken  from  the  coast  of  Africa  to  North  and 
South  America.  The  convicts  were  not  crowded  quite  as 
densely  into  the  holds  of  the  ships  as  the  slaves  were,  and 
the  mortality  among  them  was  not  as  great ;  still  they  were 
packed  very  thickly  together,  and  were  treated  quite  as 
cruelly  as  the  slave  dealers  used  to  treat  their  human  prop- 
erty. "  Occasionally  it  happened  that  the  convicts  formed 
a  conspiracy  and  endeavored  to  take  possession  of  the 
ship.  In  nearly  every  instance  they  were  betrayed  by  one 
of  their  number,  and  when  the  time  came  for  action  they 
were  so  closely  guarded  that  any  resistance  was  useless. 
Then  the  conspirators  were  seized,  and  after  a  brief  trial 
were  condemned  to  be  hung  or  shot,  generally  the  former, 


66  THE    LAND    OF    THE    KANGAROO. 

as  it  saved  ammunition  and  did  not  soil  the  decks  of  the 
ship  with  blood.  When  there  was  an  actual  mutiny  the 
mutineers  were  shot  down  without  mercy,  and  those  who 
escaped  the  bullets  were  speedily  disposed  of  by  hanging 
at  the  yard-arms." 

"  Terrible  times  those  must  have  been,"  remarked  Ned  ; 
"  the  wonder  is  that  anybody  survived." 

"Yes,  indeed,"  said  Harry;  "but  man  has  a  tough 
constitution  and  can  endure  a  great  deal." 


CHAPTER   IV. 

STRANGE    ADVENTURES AUSTRALIAN    ABORIGINALS. 

ON  E  of  the  youths  asked  how  the  convicts  were  em- 
ployed after  they  came  to  Australia. 

"  At  first,"  said  the  doctor,  "they  were  employed  almost 
entirely  on  government  works.  A  city  was  laid  out,  and 
of  course  it  was  necessary  to  grade  the  streets,  build 
bridges,  and  do  other  things  in  connection  with  putting 
the  place  into  shape.  There  were  prisons,  warehouses, 
wharves,  and  other  buildings  necessary  to  a  convict 
establishment  to  be  erected.  Gardens  and  fields  were  to 
be  laid  out  and  planted,  and  altogether  there  was  no  lack 
of  work  to  be  performed.  The  prisoners  were  required  to 
work  under  guard,  and  the  worst  of  them  were  ornamented 
with  ball  and  chain,  like  the  occupants  of  many  a  prison 
in  different  parts  of  the  world.  They  were  treated  just  as 
rigorously  as  they  had  been  on  board  the  ships  that  brought 
them  out.  Their  lodgings  were  somewhat  more  spacious, 
but  by  no  stretch  of  fancy  could  they  be  called  luxurious. 
The  supply  of  food  in  the  colony  was  not  large,  and  the 
fare  of  the  prisoners  was  scanty. 

"Free  emigration  to  Australia  began  a  few  years  after 
the  convict  emigration,  and  most  of  the  free  emigrants 
came  here  with  the  view  to  employ  the  convicts  under 
contracts  with  the  government.  They  were  principally 
men  of  capital,  and  the  most  of  them  established  farms  or 

67 


68  THE    LAND    OF    THE    KANGAROO. 

factories  near  Sydney  and  entered  into  agreements  with 
the  government  to  supply  them  with  labor.  Where  they 
were  close  to  the  city,  the  convicts  were  sent  out  to  their 
work  in  the  morning  and  returned  to  prison  at  night ;  but 
where  the  distance  from  the  city  was  considerable,  other 
plans  had  to  be  followed.  Sometimes  soldiers  were  detailed 
to  guard  the  convicts  at  their  working  places,  and  in 
others  the  employer  himself  supplied  the  guard.  The 
convicts  were  also  made  to  understand  very  clearly  that 
if  they  ran  away  they  would  be  caught  and  severely 
punished. 

"  I  should  think  they  would  run  away  in  spite  of  all 
these  threats,  especially  where  their  sentences  were  for 
long  terms,"  Harry  remarked. 

"  It  was  not  so  easy  as  it  may  seem  for  anybody  to 
escape,"  said  the  doctor.  "  A  man  could  not  stay  around 
the  colony  more  than  a  day  or  two,  or  a  few  days  at  the 
farthest,  without  being  discovered,  and  when  found  he 
was  sure  to  be  severely  flogged,  put  on  bread  and  water, 
and  shut  up  in  a  dark  cell.  If  he  escaped  into  the  bush, 
he  was  pretty  certain  to  starve  to  death  unless  found  by 
the  natives,  in  which  case  he  was  generally  murdered. 
Many  a  convict  ran  away  to  the  bush  and  was  never  heard 
of.  Others  remained  there  until  starvation  forced  them 
to  come  in  and  give  themselves  up." 

"  Did  the  free  settlers  increase  as  fast  as  the  convicts?" 

"Yes,  they  increased  faster  as  the  word  went  out 
through  the  British  Islands  that  Australia  offered  great 
possibilities  for  emigrants.  For  twenty  years  the  military 
and  convicts  were  more  numerous  than  the  free  settlers ; 


STRANGE    ADVENTURES.  69 

but  by  the  end  of  thirty  years  the  latter  were  in  the  as- 
cendency. In  the  year  1S30,  there  were  twenty-seven 
thousand  convicts  in  the  colony,  and  forty-nine  thousand 
others. 

"By  'others'  I  don't  mean  other  settlers,  altogether, 
though  I  do  mean  free  people.  By  that  time  a  good 
many  convicts  had  served  out  their  sentences  and  become 
free.  They  were  known  as  "emancipists,"  and  conse- 
quently there  were  three  kinds  of  people  in  the  colony,  — 
emancipists,  convicts,  and  free  settlers.  The  free  settlers 
would  not  associate  with  the  emancipists,  and  thev  in  turn 
would  not  associate  with  the  convicts.  The  free  settlers 
wanted  the  emancipists  to  be  deprived  of  all  civil  rights 
and  kept  practically  in  the  same  position  as  the  convicts. 
The  officers  of  the  government  used  to  take  the  side  of 
the  emancipists,  and  there  were  many  bitter  quarrels  be- 
tween them  and  the  free  settlers  in  consequence." 

Here  the  doctor  paused  for  a  moment,  and  then  asked  :  — 
"  Did  you  ever  read  about  the  mutiny  of  the  Bounty?" 
"Oh,  yes,"  replied  Harry;  "I  read  about  it  two  or 
three  years  ago.  The  crew  of  the  ship  Bounty  mutinied, 
and  put  the  captain  and  others  in  an  open  boat  to  take  care 
of  themselves  the  best  way  they  could.  The  Bounty  then 
cruised  about  the  Pacific  for  awhile,  and  finally  went  to 
Pitcairn's  Island,  where  the  mutineers  landed  and  de- 
stroyed the  ship.  Their  fate  was  not  known  until  nearly 
thirty  years  afterwards,  when  an  American  ship  touched  at 
the  island,  and  found  it  peopled  by  the  descendants  of  the 
mutineers,  who  had  taken  some  women  from  Tahiti  to 
become  their  wives.      Only  one  of  those  concerned   in  the 


70  THE    LAND    OF    THE    KANGAROO. 

mutiny  was  then  alive.  The  captain  and  his  companions 
in  the  open  boat  made  a  voyage  of  four  thousand  miles, 
enduring  great  hardships,  and  eventually  reached  the 
Dutch  settlements  in  the  island  of  Timor." 

"  A  very  good  account  for  a  brief  one,"  said  the  doctor. 
"  Do  you  remember  the  name  of  the  Bounty's  commander?  " 

"  Yes,"  replied  Harry.  "  I  believe  it  was  Bligh  ;  in  fact, 
I  am  sure  of  it." 

"Well,  that  same  Captain  Bligh  was  one  of  the  early 
governors  of  New  South  Wales,  as  the  colony  was  then 
called.  He  caused  the  mutiny  on  the  Bounty  by  want  of 
tact  and  by  undue  severity,  and  the  same  spirit  that  he 
showed  on  the  deck  of  his  ship  caused  a  rebellion  in  New 
South  Wales.  Of  course,  the  convicts  had  no  influence  or 
part  in  the  rebellion,  but  the  free  settlers  were  very  active 
in  it,  and  so  were  a  good  many  of  the  officers.  Bligh 
caused  himself  to  be  thoroughly  disliked  by  interfering  with 
local  trade,  and  also  by  his  very  intemperate  talk  concern- 
ing free  settlers  and  emancipists.  He  was  deposed  and 
sent  to  England,  while  a  temporary  governor  was  installed 
in  his  place.  To  a  certain  extent  he  triumphed  over  his 
enemies,  as  the  officers  who  had  taken  part  in  the  rebellion 
were  either  reprimanded  or  dismissed.  Governor  Bligh 
came  back  with  the  authority  to  assume  the  position  of 
governor  for  just  one  hour." 

"  Not  a  very  long  term  for  a  man  to  be  governor,"  Ned 
remarked 

"No,  not  by  any  means,"  was  the  reply;  "but  there 
was  a  technical  advantage  in  it  which  was  very  important. 
The   governor  did  a  great  deal  in  that  one   hour.      He  re- 


STRANGE    ADVENTURES.  71 

moved  a  good  many  officers  and  appointed  new  ones  in 
their  places,  and  he  made  several  changes  in  the  adminis- 
tration of  the  colony  which  were  more  or  less  embarrassing 
to  his  successor. 

"Governor  Bligh  was  succeeded  by  Governor  Mac- 
quarie.  The  quarrel  between  the  free  settlers  and  the 
emancipists  continued  during  Macquarie's  administration. 
The  governor  took  the  side  of  the  emancipists,  and  at  one 
time  there  was  a  good  prospect  of  another  rebellion ;  but, 
happily,  the  new  chief  of  the  colony  possessed  more  tact 
than  his  predecessor,  and  no  rebellion  was  ever  brought 
about.  Governor  Macquarie  relaxed  some  of  the  severity 
with  which  the  convicts  had  been  treated,  and  this,  together 
with  his  favoring  the  emancipists,  gave  him  the  title  of 
the  '  Prisoners'  Friend.' 

"As  time  went  on,  the  number  of  free  settlers  in  the 
colony  increased,  and  so  did  the  number  of  farms  in  the 
vicinity  of  Sydney.  As  I  have  already  told  you,  the  con- 
victs were  hired  out  to  work  on  the  farms.  Of  course  a 
o-ood  many  of  them  ran  away,  and  then  some  of  them  got 
into  the  bush,  where  they  remained  for  various  periods, 
but  the  majority  of  them  were  caught  and  brought  back 
within  a  few  days.  Dogs  were  used  in  pursuing  them, 
and  several  kennels  of  dogs  were  kept  at  the  prisons  for 
the  purpose  of  hunting  out  runaways.  Some  of  the  pris- 
oners' beliefs  in  regard  to  the  country  were  very  amusing. 
The  idea  trot  into  the  heads  of  many  that,  by  traveling 
overland  for  a  few  days,  they  would  reach  China,  and 
quite  a  number  of  them  tried  to  do  so.  One  man  wan- 
dered for   a  month   around  the  bush  country,  until  finally, 


72  THE    LAND    OF    THE    KANGAROO. 

driven  by  hunger,  he  ventured  to  approach  a  house. 
There  he  saw  a  fellow-prisoner  whom  he  knew,  and  asked 
him  how  long  he  had  been  in  China.  He  was  very  much 
surprised  on  learning  that  he  was  not  in  China  at  all,  but 
on  a  farm  a  few  miles  from  Sydney.  While  he  was  talk- 
ing with  the  friend  two  soldiers  happened  along  and  took 
him  in  charge,  and  then  carried  him  back  to  the  prison, 
where  he  received  the  customary  punishment. 

"In  1798  a  good  many  Irishmen  who  had  been  con- 
cerned in  the  Irish  rebellion  of  that  year  were  transported 
to  Australia.  They  saw  in  the  mountains  back  of  Sydney 
a  close  resemblance  to  the  mountains  of  Connaught,  in 
their  native  country,  and  fancied  that  if  they  could  cross 
those  mountains  they  would  find  themselves  at  home. 
Quite  a  number  of  them  ran  away  in  consequence,  but 
were  doomed  to  disappointment.  One  man  on  the  voyage 
out  to  Australia  had  given  a  good  deal  of  time  to  studying 
the  motions  of  the  ship's  compass,  and  he  imagined  that  if 
he  could  only  get  something  of  the  kind  he  would  be  all 
right  and  could  safely  guide  himself  through  the  forests 
of  Australia.  He  watched  his  chance  and  stole  a  book  on 
navigation.  One  leaf  of  the  book  had  a  picture  of  a 
mariner's  compass.  He  tore  out  this  leaf,  and,  thus 
equipped,  took  the  first  opportunity  of  running  away. 

"Speaking  of  these  Irish  rebels  reminds  me  of  some- 
thing I  must  tell  you.  They  were  convicted  of  treason, 
either  for  taking  an  active  part  in  the  rebellion  or  sympa- 
thizing with  it,  and  for  this  crime  they  were  sent  as  con- 
victs to  the  other  side  of  the  world.  No  distinction  was 
made  between   political    and   criminal   offenders,    and   the 


STRANGE    ADVENTURES.  73 

man  who  had  loved  his  country  and  tried  to  set  her  free 
was  treated  with  the  same  severity  as  the  house  breaker 
and  highwayman. 

"A  great  many  men  were  sent  to  Australia  for  the 
crime  of  poaching.  Many  a  man  was  condemned  to 
seven,  ten,  and  fifteen  years'  exile  at  hard  labor  because 
he  had  taken  a  trout  out  of  a  brook,  or  snared  a  partridge. 
Offenses  that  in  these  times  would  only  result  in  a  line 
were  then  punished  with  great  severity,  and  a  considerable 
number  of  the  convicts  sent  to  Australia  in  the  first  thirty 
years  of  the  prevalence  of  the  system  were  men  whose 
offenses  had  really  been  very  light.  It  was  for  this  reason 
that  Governor  Macquarie  and  other  high  officials  took  the 
position  that  they  did  in  favor  of  the  emancipists.  They 
contended  that  a  man  whose  offense  had  been  of  a  trivial 
sort,  and  who  had  shown  himself  to  be  honest  and  indus- 
trious, ought  to  receive  a  helping  hand,  instead  of  being- 
placed  under  the  ban." 

"  I  quite  agree  with  them,*'  said  Harry  ;  "  and  I  wonder 
that  the  free  settlers  were  so  severe  against  them." 

"  But  you  must  bear  in  mind,"  the  doctor  answered,  "  that 
the  term  '  convict '  is  always  odious,  no  matter  under  what 
circumstances  it  may  have  been  obtained.  It  was  not  easy 
at  all  times  for  the  free  settlers  to  make  a  distinction  among 
emancipists,  and  so  they  came  to  a  quick  conclusion  by  de- 
nouncing all.  However,  that  state  of  society  has  all  passed 
away  ;  convicts,  emancipists,  and  free  settlers  of  the  first 
quarter  of  this  century  are  all  dead  and  gone  now,  with, 
possiblv,  a  few  exceptions.  Time  has  healed  the  breach, 
and  this  subject  is  very  little  talked  of  at  the  present  day." 


^  THE    LAM)    OF    THE    KANGAROO. 

"How  about  the  descendants  of  the  early  colonists?" 
Ned  inquired.  "  Do  the  sins  of  the  fathers  descend  upon 
the  children,  or  are  they  all  forgotten?" 

"  As  to  that,"  said  the  doctor,  "  I  must  give  you  a  little 
explanation.  It  is  not  considered  polite  in  Australia  to  ask 
a  man  born  in  the  country  who  his  father  was,  or  how  he 
happened  to  emigrate  from  England.  That  is  a  subject 
that  is  ignored  in  polite  society,  and,  in  fact,  in  society  of 
all  kinds.  In  political  life,  a  man  may  abuse  his  opponent 
as  much  as  he  pleases  in  all  ways,  except  that  should  he 
venture  in  the  anger  of  debate  to  intimate  that  his  oppo- 
nent's father  came  to  Australia  as  an  involuntary  emigrant, 
he  renders  himself  liable  to  heavy  damages.  I  can  tell  you 
of  a  case  in  point. 

"A  prominent  official  in  the  government  of  Victoria  is 
known  to  be  the  son  of  a  man  who  was  transported  for 
catching  a  pheasant.  It  is  an  open  secret;  in  fact,  one 
could  hardly  say  that  it  was  a  secret  at  all,  as  every  man 
who  has  any  knowledge  of  public  life  is  well  aware  of 
it.  Once  while  this  man  was  running  for  office,  his  op- 
ponent, in  a  fierce  debate  before  a  public  meeting,  men- 
tioned the  circumstance,  whereupon  the  other  brought  suit, 
and  was  awarded  damages  to  the  extent  of  fifty  thousand 
dollars.  It  is  probable  that  the  unlucky  defendant  of 
the  suit  has  been  more  careful  in  the  use  of  his  tongue 
ever  since. 

"  One  of  the  convicts  that  escaped,"  continued  the  doctor, 
"had  a  most  remarkable  experience.  He  wandered  off 
into  the  bush  or  forests,  and  kept  traveling  until  the  small 
amount  of  provisions  he  carried  was  exhausted.     Then  for 


STRANGE    ADVENTURES.  75 

two  or  three  days  he  lived  upon  roots  and  leaves  and  on  a 
bird  that  he  killed  with  a  club. 

"  One  day,  while  he  was  dragging  himself  along,  he  came 
to  a  mound  of  earth,  which  had  been  freshly  heaped  up. 
Standing  in  this  mound  there  was  a  stick,  and  to  help  him- 
self along  he  took  possession  of  the  stick,  which  was  like 
a  long  walking-cane.  He  observed,  as  he  took  possession 
of  it,  that  it  seemed  to  have  been  used  before,  but  he  pro- 
ceeded on  his  way  and  thought  no  more  about  the  matter. 

"  After  drao-o-inrr  himself  along  for  half  a  mile  or  more, 
he  suddenly  came  upon  a  little  encampment  of  native 
blacks  or  aborigines.  They  raised  a  shout  as  they  saw 
him  and  made  a  rush  in  his  direction,  brandishing  their 
spears  and  other  weapons,  and  showing  signs  of  hostility. 

"  The  poor  fellow  thought  his  last  hour  had  come,  as  he 
had  heard  that  the  blacks  murdered  every  white  man  they 
came  across.  What  was  his  surprise  when  they  suddenly 
lowered  their  weapons  and  changed  their  demonstrations 
of  hostility  to  those  of  respect!  They  gathered  about  him 
in  the  most  friendly  manner  imaginable,  and  tried  to  talk 
with  him,  but  he  could  not  understand  a  word.  They  threw 
up  a  shelter  for  him  larger  than  any  other  shelter  in  the 
encampment,  and  installed  him  there,  and  they  treated 
him  as  though  he  were  a  princely  ambassador.  They 
brought  him  food,  which  he  ate  ravenously,  and  they  con- 
tinued to  place  their  greatest  delicacies  before  him  until 
his  appetite  was  fully  satisfied. 

"Well,  he  remained  among  them  for  years,  and  as  he 
was  a  man  of  fair  intelligence,  he  soon  learned  their  lan- 
guage.     It  did  nut  take  him   long  to  comprehend   that  he 


j6  THE    LAND    OF    THE    KANGAROO. 

was  treated  as  the  chief  of  the  tribe,  and  had  been  regarded 
as  such  from  the  very  beginning.  And  what  do  you  sup- 
pose brought  it  about  ?  " 

"I'm  sure  I  can't  tell,"  said  both  of  the  youths  in  a 
breath. 

"  It  came  about  in  this  way,"  explained  the  doctor. 
"The  Australian  blacks  believe,  or,  at  any  rate,  many  of 
the  tribes. do,  that  the  white  man  is  nothing  more  nor  less 
than  a  resurrected  black  man.  Those  of  them  who  speak 
English  express  it  in  these  words  :  '  Tumble  down,  black 
fellow  ;   jump  up,  white  fellow.' 

"It  so  happened  that  the  tribe  which  he  joined  had  just 
buried  its  chief,  and  when  they  bury  one  of  their  dead 
they  heap  a  mound  of  earth  above  the  spot,  and  upon  the 
top  of  the  mound  some  implement  or  weapon  belonging 
to  the  deceased.  In  this  case  they  had  stuck  the  old 
chief's  walking-staff  in  the  top  of  the  mound,  and  it  was 
this  very  staff  that  the  white  man  took  from  the  mound 
where  the  chief  was  buried,  to  help  him  along  on  his  way. 
When  the  blacks  saw  the  man  approaching  they  proceeded 
to  kill  him  after  their  custom,  but  as  he  came  near  and 
they  saw  that  he  carried  the  staff  of  their  chief,  they  at 
once  concluded  that  the  chief  had  come  to  life  airain  in 
the  shape  of  the  white  fellow.  That  is  why  they  showed 
him  so  many  honors  and  made  him  chief  of  their  tribe. 
It  was  in  their  minds  a  clear  case  of  '  tumble  down,  black 
fellow;   jump  up,  white  fellow.'" 

"  I  suppose  he  was  quite  contented  to  stay  with  them, 
and  not  return  to  Sydney  and  its  punishments  ?  "  remarked 
one  of  the  youths. 


STRANGE    ADVENTURES.  77 

"Yes,  indeed  he  was.  For  years  rumors  came  to  Syd- 
ney, from  time  to  time,  that  there  was  a  white  man  living 
in  one  of  the  aboriginal  tribes  as  their  chief.  Word  was 
sent  him  several  times  by  means  of  the  blacks,  giving  the 
governor's  promise  that  he  would  not  be  molested  if  he 
would  come  to  Sydney  and  tell  his  story,  but  he  was  sus- 
picious, and  for  a  long  time  refused  to  come.  Finally  an 
officer  of  the  government  went  out,  and  with  a  great  deal 
of  difficulty  succeeded  in  having  an  interview  with  him. 
He  received  the  most  solemn  assurance  that  he  would  not 
be  interfered  with,  and  finally  said  that  if  a  full  pardon 
were  sent  to  him,  he  would  come.  A  full  pardon  was 
accordinglv  forwarded  and  he  ventured  to  Sydney,  where 
he  received  a  good  deal  of  attention.  His  story  was  taken 
down  from  his  own  lips,  and  afterward  published  in  a 
book.  After  a  few  months  he  became  dissatisfied  with 
civilization  and  returned  to  his  wanderings." 

"  That  is  a  curious  idea  of  the  blacks,  that  they  become 
white  after  their  death,"'  Xed  remarked. 

"  Yes,  it  is  curious,"  said  the  doctor,  "  and  they  carry  it 
out  in  forming  attachments  for  the  white  people  who  em- 
ployed them.  At  a  station  where  quite  a  number  of  blacks 
were  emploved,  one  of  the  eldest  of  the  women  used  to  say 
to  the  foreman  of  the  place  :  '  You  are  my  son.  I  your 
moder,  and  I  take  care  of  you.  My  big  bov  tumble  down, 
vou  white  bov  tumble  up.  You  my  piccaninny.'  After  a 
time  the  man  got  married  and  brought  his  wife  to  his 
home.  The  next  day  another  woman  of  the  tribe  adopted 
and  laid  claim  to  her  as  her  child.  The  two  women  be- 
came very  fond  of  each  other,  and  when,  in  the  course  of 


78  THE    LAM)    OF    THE    KANGAROO. 

time,  the  black  woman  died,  the  white  one  mourned  ex- 
ceedingly for  her." 

"  We  will  have  an  opportunity  to  see  some  of  the  abo- 
riginals while  we  are  in  the  country,  and  then  we  will  learn 
more  about  them,"  continued  the  doctor;  "but  of  one 
thing  let  me  remind  you,  do  not  speak  of  them  as  '  natives/ 
In  Australia,  the  term  '  native  '  is  applied  to  a  white  person 
born  in  this  country,  while  the  real  natives,  as  we  ourselves 
would  speak  of  them,  are  termed  'blacks'  or  '  aborigines.'" 

The  youths  promised  to  bear  the  advice  in  mind,  and 
then  Harry  asked  how  the  discontinuance  of  convict  emi- 
gration was  brought  about. 

"  It  was  brought  about,"  the  doctor  replied,  "  through 
the  hostility  of  the  Australians  themselves.  They  pro- 
tested repeatedly  against  receiving  convicts,  and  their 
protests  were  heeded  to  the  extent  that  for  awhile  the  emi- 
gration ceased  ;  but  one  day  a  ship  appeared  in  the  harbor 
of  Sydney  with  a  fresh  batch  of  convicts.  Thereupon  the 
local  authorities  took  vigorous  action,  and  refused  to  allow 
the  convicts  to  be  landed.  The  ship  then  went  to  Mel- 
bourne, with  the  same  result.  The  people  of  Melbourne 
would  not  have  the  undesirable  emigrants,  and  the  captain 
was  obliged  to  £o  around  the  southern  coast  to  West  Aus- 
tralia,  where  no  opposition  was  made  to  the  human  cargo 
being  put  on  shore.  Convict  emigration  to  New  South 
Wales  and  Victoria  ceased  about  1S40,  and  to  Tasmania  in 
1853,  but  it  was  continued  to  West  Australia  until  1858. 
Since  that  time  it  has  been  entirelv  given  up  by  the  British 
government,  and  the  class  of  people  that  used  to  be  sent 
here  is  now  taken  care  of  in  British  prisons  at  home. 


STRANGE    ADVENTURES.  79 

"The  old  idea  about  transportation  of  criminals  was. 
that  it  rendered  society  at  home  better  by  removing  the 
criminal  class.  In  practise  this  theory  was  found  to  be  a 
mistaken  one.  Thievery  and  similar  crimes  were  found 
to  be  trades,  and  as  fast  as  criminals  were  transported 
others  came  up  to  take  their  places,  so  that,  practically,  no 
matter  how  many  criminals  were  sent  away,  their  places 
were  soon  filled  and  the  business  went  on  as  before. 
France  began  the  practise  about  the  middle  of  this  cen- 
tury of  transporting  criminals  to  New  Caledonia  and  other 
islands  of  the  Pacific;  she  still  keeps  it  up,  but,  according 
to  accounts,  there  is  no  diminution  of  crime  in  France,  nor 
is  there  likely  to  be. 

"  It  is  proper  to  say  in  this  connection  that  there  was  a 
considerable  party  in  Australia  in  favor  of  the  transpor- 
tation system,  on  account  of  the  money  the  government 
expended  here  in  consequence.  This  was  particularly  the 
case  in  Van  Dieman's  Land,  which  is  now  called  Tas- 
mania. That  island  received  a  great  number  of  convicts, 
and  the  government  expended  a  very  large  amount  of 
money  for  their  support  and  for  the  construction  of  prison 
establishments.  Many  of  the  public  works  of  Tasmania 
were  built  by  the  convicts.  For  example,  they  built  an 
excellent  road  one  hundred  and  twenty  miles  long,  run- 
ning across  the  island  from  Hobart  to  Launceston.  It  is 
said  to  be  the  finest  wagon  and  carriage  road  in  all  the 
country,  but  is  now  comparatively  little  used,  having  been 
superseded  by  a  railway. 

"The  ruins  of  a  very  extensive  prison  are  still  to  be 
seen  at  Port  Arthur,  about  thirteen   miles  from   Hobart :    it 


80  THE    LAND    OF    THE    KANGAROO. 

stands  on  a  peninsula  which  is  connected  with  the  main- 
land by  a  very  narrow  neck.  Across  this  neck  of  land  there 
were  chained  a  lot  of  savage  dogs,  so  near  each  other  that 
nobody  could  pass  without  being  within  reach  of  at  least 
one  of  the  dogs.  The  water  all  around  the  peninsula 
abounded  in  sharks,  so  that  if  a  man  attempted  to  swim 
across  the  bay  he  was  liable  to  become  the  prey  of  one, 
or  perhaps  a  dozen,  of  these  sea  wolves.  And  yet  a 
good  many  men,  first  and  last,  managed  to  escape  from 
Port  Arthur  and  get  into  the  bush. 

"Generally  the  runaways  were  caught  before  being  at 
large  manv  days,  and  when  brought  back  many  of  them 
were  condemned  to  death.  At  one  time  the  keeper  who 
had  charge  of  the  prisons  at  Ilobart  complained  to  the 
authorities  of  the  inadequate  facilities  for  putting  men  to 
death  by  hanging.  He  said  it  was  impossible  to  hang 
conveniently  more  than  thirteen  men  at  once,  and  as  the 
hangman  had  been  very  busy  of  late,  he  thought  that  the 
facilities  ought  to  be  increased  so  that  the  work  could  be 
performed  with  greater  expedition.*' 

Dr.  Whitney  reminded  his  young  friends  that  it  was 
time  for  them  to  start  if  they  wished  to  employ  the  fore- 
noon advantageously ;  accordingly,  a  carriage  was  called 
and  the  party  went  out  for  a  drive.  They  proceeded  in 
the  direction  of  the  lake,  a  pretty  sheet  of  water  in  the 
northern  part  of  Adelaide  —  about  two  miles  long  and  in 
some  places  half  a  mile  wide.  The  lake  is  an  artificial 
one,  and  is  formed  by  throwing  a  dam  across  the  river 
Torrens  and  restraining  the  waters  which  come  down  in 
times    of  flood.       For  the    greater  part  of   the    year    the 


STRANGE    ADVENTURES.  Ol 

river  is  little  more  than  a  dry  bed  of  sand,  and  one  of  the 
inhabitants  told  Harry  that  sprinkling-carts  were  driven 
through  the  bed  of  the  river  every  morning  and  evening 
to  keep  down  the  dust.  The  city  is  supplied  with  water 
from  this  river  :  it  is  taken  from  a  stream  several  miles 
above  Adelaide,  and  brought  through  heavy  iron  pipes. 

Harry  wished  to  know  the  population  of  the  city,  and 
was  told  that  it  was  not  far  from  sixty  thousand.  There 
is  a  considerable  suburban  population,  and  the  man  from 
whom  Harry  obtained  his  information  said  he  thought 
there  was  fully  another  sixty  thousand  people  living  within 
a  radius  of  ten  miles  from  City  Hall.  He  said  the  whole 
population  of  the  colony  of  South  Australia  was  not  far 
from  one  hundred  and  thirty  thousand  including  about  five 
thousand  aboriginals. 

When  the  country  was  first  settled  it  was  thought  that 
the  aboriginals  numbered  twelve  or  fourteen  thousand,  but 
contact  with  civilization  had  reduced  the  figures  very 
materiallv  here,  as  in  other  parts  of  the  world.  Where 
white  men  and  aboriginals  have  come  in  contact,  the  latter 
have  suffered  all  over  Australia  :  their  relations  have  not 
changed  in  Xew  Zealand  and  Tasmania,  and  this  is  es- 
pecially  the  case  in  the  last-named  colony.  Not  a  single 
aboriginal  Tasmanian  is  now  alive,  the  last  one  having 
died  in  1S76.  When  the  island  was  first  occupied  by  the 
English,  the  number  of  aboriginals  was  estimated  at  four 
or  five  thousand.  The  storv  goes  that  when  the  British 
landed  there  the  natives  made  signs  of  peace,  but  the 
officer  who  was  in  charge  of  the  landing  thought  the 
signals    were    hostile    instead    of    friendly.       He    ordered 


82  THE    LAND    OF    THE    KANGAROO. 

the  soldiers  to  fire  upon  the  blacks,  and  thus  began  a  war 
which  lasted  for  several  years,  and  when  it  terminated, 
only  a  few  hundreds  of  the  blacks  remained  alive.  In 
1854,  there  were  only  fifteen  of  them  left,  and  the  number 
irraduallv  diminished,  until  the  last  one  died  as  related. 


CHAPTER   V. 

ACROSS    AUSTRALIA TALLEST    TREES    IN    THE    WORLD. 

OUR  friends  were  invited  to  visit  a  large  wheat  farm 
twenty  or  thirty  miles  north  of  Adelaide,  and 
accepted  the  invitation  with  great  pleasure.  Leaving  the 
city  early  in  the  morning,  the  railway  train  took  them  to  a 
station  a  few  miles  from  the  farm,  and  there  the  owner  met 
them  in  his  carriage.  After  a  substantial  breakfast  at  the 
owner's  residence,  they  were  driven  to  the  field,  or,  rather, 
to  one  of  the  fields,  where  the  work  of  harvesting  was 
going  on. 

It  roused  their  national  pride  somewhat  to  find  that 
American  reaping-machines  were  in  use  on  the  farm,  and 
they  also  learned  that  the  plowing  was  done  with  Ameri- 
can plows.  The  field  stretched  out  to  an  almost  limitless 
extent,  and  it  needed  very  little  play  of  the  imagination 
for  the  youths  to  believe  that  they  were  on  one  of  their 
own  western  prairies  instead  of  being  at  the  antipodes. 

The  farm  seemed  to  be  managed  in  a  most  systematic 
manner,  and  before  they  departed  the  owner  showed  them 
a  copy  of  the  rules  which  the  men  were  required  to  sign 
when  they  were  engaged.  Before  signing,  the  rules  were 
read  to  them  line  by  line,  and  sentence  by  sentence,  and 
each  man  acknowledged  that  he  had  a  full  understanding 
of  the  documents  to  which  he  affixed  his  signature. 

Perhaps  it  may  interest  our  readers  to  know  something 


84  THE    LAND    OF    THE    KANGAROO. 

about  these  rules.  Sixty  men  are  employed  on  a  farm 
throughout  the  whole  year,  and  in  the  busy  season  three 
times  that  number  are  engaged.  Here  is  the  substance  of 
the  rules  :  — 

"The  bell  rings  at  five  o'clock  in  the  morning,  and 
this  is  the  signal  for  everybody  to  get  up.  Horses  are 
groomed  and  fed  before  six  o'clock,  and  at  that  hour  the 
men  are  served  with  breakfast.  At  seven  o'clock  the 
teams  are  harnessed,  and  teams  and  men  go  to  the  field. 
At  noon  one  hour  is  allowed  for  rest  and  dinner,  and  then 
work  goes  on  until  five  o'clock  in  winter  and  six  o'clock 

cf 

in  summer.  Then  the  teams  return  to  the  stables,  and  the 
men  get  their  suppers  at  seven  o'clock.  The  "horses  are 
fed  and  watered  at  eight  o'clock,  and  by  ten  o'clock  every- 
body must  be  in  bed." 

First-class  hands  on  these  farms  receive  twenty  shill- 
ings ($5)  per  week,  and  employees  of  other  grades  are  paid 
in  proportion.  One  clause  in  the  rules  says  that  any  man 
in  charge  of  horses  who  abuses  them  or  neglects  to  care 
for  them  properly  will  be  discharged  at  once,  and  forfeit 
all  wages  that  may  be  due  him.  Penalties  are  stated  for 
every  sort  of  offense,  all  of  them  being  in  the  shape  of 
fines  or  loss  of  situation,  or  both.  Every  laborer  who  be- 
gins in  a  low  position  is  promised  an  advance  in  pay  and 
place  as  a  reward  of  his  industry  and  good  conduct. 

"There  are  a  good  many  farms  of  this  sort  in  South 
Australia,"  said  Ned  in  his  journal,  "and  we  are  sorry 
that  time  prevents  our  visiting  all  those  that  we  have  been 
invited  to  see  ;  but  our  regret  is  modified  by  the  recollection 
that  one  farm  is  very  largely  a  repetition  of  another  farm, 


ACROSS    AUSTRALIA.  85 

and  so  we  accept  the  situation  and  say  nothing  more  about 
it.  South  Australia  is  a  great  wheat-growing  country,  and 
ships  an  immense  quantity  of  wheat  to  England.  In  good 
\  ears  it  produces  fully  fifteen  millions  of  bushels  for  export, 
in  addition  to  the  quantity  required  for  home  consumption. 

"  Xext  in  importance  to  the  wheat  crop  in  South  Aus- 
tralia is  the  crop  of  wool.  There  are  nearly  seven  millions 
of  sheep  in  the  colony,  and  between  the  wool  and  bread- 
stuffs,  the  income  to  the  country  is  very  considerable.  We 
now  understand  the  uses  of  the  immense  sheds,  and  the 
grain  elevators  that  we  saw  when  we  landed  at  Port  Ade- 
laide. Large  as  they  are,  the  capacities  of  these  places  of 
storage  must  be  taxed  to  their  utmost  in  busy  times. 

"  They  have  given  considerable  attention  to  the  cultiva- 
tion of  the  grape.  Grapes,  apricots,  peaches,  and  other 
fruits  grow  in  great  abundance,  so  much  so  that  in  the 
fruit  season  they  are  retailed  in  the  market  of  Adelaide  at 
a  penny  a  pound,  and  all  of  them  are  delicious.  Quite  an 
industry  is  being  developed  in  canning  fruits  for  exporta- 
tion, and  it  will  probably  increase  gradually  as  the  years 
go  on." 

Our  friends  were  invited  to  make  a  journey  on  the  line 
of  the  Great  Northern  Railway,  which  is  ultimately  in- 
tended to  reach  the  northern  coast  of  Australia.  The 
distance  across  Australia,  from  north  to  south,  is  about 
seventeen  hundred  miles  ;  about  four  hundred  miles  of  the 
line  are  completed,  leaving  thirteen  hundred  miles  yet  to 
be  built.  It  will  cost  a  great  deal  of  money  to  finish  the 
railway,  but  the  people  are  ambitious,  and  will  probably 
accomplish  it  in  the  course  of  time. 


86  THE    LAND    OF    THE    KANGAROO. 

They  already  have  a  telegraph  line,  running  for  the 
greater  part  of  the  way  through  a  very  desolate  region. 
For  hundreds  of  miles  there  are  no  white  people,  except 
the  operators  and  repairers  at  the  stations,  and  in  many 
places  it  is  unlikely  that  there  will  ever  be  any  inhabitants, 
as  the  country  is  a  treeless  waste,  and,  at  some  of  the  sta- 
tions, water  has  to  be  brought  from  a  considerable  distance. 
Artesian  wells  have  been  bored  at  many  of  the  stations  ;  at 
some  of  them  successfully,  while  at  others  it  was  impossible 
to  find  water. 

The  railway  official  who  invited  our  friends  to  make  the 
journey,  told  them  that  he  was  connected  with  the  telegraph 
company  at  the  time  of  its  construction,  and  he  gave  an  inter- 
esting account  of  some  of  the  difficulties  they  encountered. 

"  The  desert  character  of  the  country,"  said  the  gentle- 
man, "  caused  us  a  great  deal  of  inconvenience.  We 
were  obliged  to  haul  or  carry  provisions  and  material  for 
long  distances.  Where  it  was  practicable  to  use  wagons 
we  used  them,  but  where  we  could  not  do  so  we  employed 
camels.  Camels  were  introduced  into  Australia  forty  or 
fifty  years  ago,  and  they  have  been  a  great  deal  of  use  to 
us  in  parts  of  the  country  where  water  is  scarce.  The 
conditions  of  Northern  and  Central  Australia  very  much 
resemble  those  of  the  regions  of  Northern  Africa,  where 
the  camel  had  its  origin,  or,  at  all  events,  where  it  abounds 
to-day  in  greatest  numbers.  Had  it  not  been  for  the 
'  Ship  of  the  Desert,'  it  is  possible  that  we  might  not  have 
been  able  to  build  the  telegraph  line  across  Australia. 
The  camel  is  so  highly  appreciated  here  that  the  govern- 
ment has  established  several  breeding  stations  for  those 


Across  Australia.  87 

ungainly  creatures,  and  their  number  is  increasing  every 
year. 

"  You  know  already  about  the  scarcity  of  water  in  the 
desert  region.  Springs  are  few  and  far  between,  and  rain 
is  of  rare  occurrence.  It  was  frequently  necessary  to 
carry  water  thirty  or  forty  miles,  and  on  account  of  the 
great  heat  it  was  impossible  to  carry  it  in  skins  or  in 
wooden  cases,  owing  to  the  rapid  evaporation.  Cases  or 
cans  of  galvanized  iron  proved  to  be  the  best  receptacles 
for  water,  so  far  as  evaporation  was  concerned,  but  the}' 
have  the  disadvantage  of  becoming  cracked  and  leaky  in 
the  rough  treatment  to  which  they  are  subjected. 

"  Poles  for  the  telegraph  had  to  be  hauled  a  long  dis- 
tance for  a  large  part  of  the  way.  Iron  poles  are  gener- 
ally used,  owing  to  an  insect  that  destroys  wood  with  great 
rapidity.  I  wonder  if  you  have  yet  seen  any  of  the 
ravages  of  this  little  creature?" 

This  last  remark  was  made  in  the  form  of  an  interroga- 
tion, to  which  Harry  responded  that  he  had  not  yet  ob- 
served anything  of  the  kind,  nor  had  his  attention  been 
called  to  it.  Xed  remarked  that  he  had  been  told  of  the 
destructiveness  of  this  worm,  but  had  not  yet  seen  any- 
thing of  its  work. 

"If  you  had  seen  it  you  would  remember  it,"  said  the 
gentleman.  "The  worm  abounds  more  in  the  country 
districts  than  in  the  city,  and  it  does  not  seem  to  get  so 
much  into  the  city  houses  as  it  does  into  those  of  the  rural 
districts.  Suppose  you  settle  in  South  Australia,  and  build 
yourself  a  house  or  buy  one  already  built,  and  proceed  to 
take   your  comfort.      Some  day  when  you   are   sitting   in 


88  THE    LAND    OF    THE    KANGAROO. 

your  parlor  you  suddenly  feel  a  leg  of  your  chair  going 
through  the  floor,  and  down  you  go  with  a  crash.  Some- 
body runs  to  your  assistance,  and  the  additional  strain  put 
upon  the  floor  causes  the  break  to  increase,  and,  together 
with  the  person  who  has  come  to  your  aid,  you  go  down 
in  a  heap  through  a  yawning  chasm  in  the  floor,  no 
matter  whether  your  room  is  carpeted  or  not.  If  it  is  the 
former,  the  ravages  of  the  worm  have  been  quite  con- 
cealed by  the  carpet ;  while  in  the  latter  case  the  surface 
of  the  wood  presents  the  same  appearance,  while  the  whole 
interior  of  the  plank  or  board  has  been  turned  to  dust. 
This  sort  of  thing  has  happened  in  many  an  Australian 
house,  and  will  doubtless  continue  to  happen." 

Harry  asked  if  there  was  any  way  of  preventing  the 
ravages  of  this  destroyer. 

His  informant  replied  that  there  were  two  or  three  kinds 
of  wood  which  these  insects  would  not  touch.  Unfortu- 
nately, however,  they  were  higher  priced  than  ordinary 
wood,  and  consequently  the  temptation  was  to  use  the 
cheaper  article.  Houses  could  also  be  built  of  cement, 
brick,  or  other  substances  which  defied  the  wood  worm, 
but  these,  again,  were  expensive  and  could  not  be  afforded 
by  newly  arrived  emigrants,  whose  capital  was  generally 
very  limited. 

"  Returning  to  the  subject  of  the  telegraph,"  the  gentle- 
man continued,  "  we  found  a  great  deal  of  trouble  with 
the  insects  destructive  to  wood,  and  then,  too,  we  had 
considerable  difficulty  with  the  blacks,  though  less  than 
we  had  anticipated.  We  managed  to  inspire  them  with  a 
very  wholesome  fear  of  the   mysterious   fluid  that  passed 


ACROSS    AUSTRALIA.  89 

through  the  wires,  and  though  they  have  burned  stations, 
and  killed  or  wounded  quite  a  number  of  our  people,  they 
have  never  meddled  with  the  wires.  ' 

"  How  did  you  manage  to  inspire  them  with  such  fear?" 
queried   Harry. 

"We  did  it  in  this  way."  was  the  reply.  "Whenever 
a  native  visited  us,  we  managed  to  give  him  a  shock  of 
electricity,  and  if  we  could  shock  an  entire  group  at  once 
it  was  so  much  the  better.  On  several  occasions  we  got 
two  or  more  of  their  chiefs  at  stations  hundreds  of  miles 
apart,  and  then  let  them  talk  with  each  other  over  the 
wires.  Where  they  were  well  acquainted,  they  were  able 
to  carry  on  conversations  which  none  but  themselves  could 
understand.  Then  we  would  have  them  meet  half  way 
between  the  stations  and  compare  notes,  and  the  result 
was  something  that  greatly  astonished  them.  Savage  peo- 
ple generally  attribute  to  the  devil  anything  they  cannot 
understand,  and  they  very  quickly  concluded  that  '  His 
Satanic  Majesty '  was  at  the  bottom  of  the  whole  busi- 
ness and  it  would  be  well  for  them  to  let  it  carefully 
alone. 

'•An  amusing  thing  happened  one  day  when  we  were 
putting  up  a  portion  of  the  line.  There  was  a  crowd  of 
native  blacks  watching  us,  and  the  principal  man  among 
them  walked  for  an  hour  or  two  along  the  line,  making  a 
critical  examination  of  the  posts  and  wires  and  pacing  the 
di>tance  between  the  posts. 

"  When  he  had  evidently  made  up  his  mind  as  to  the 
situation  he  walked  up  to  the  foreman  of  the  working  party 
and  said,  with  an  accent  of  insolence  :  — 


9o 


THE    LAND    OF    THE    KANGAROO. 


"  '  My  think  white  fellow  one  big  fool.' 

"  When  the  foreman  tried  to  find  out  his  reason  for  ex- 
pressing contempt  in  that  way,  he  pointed  to  the  telegraph 
line  and  said  :  — 

"  '  That  piece  of  fence  never  stop  cattle.' 

"Before  the  foreman  could  explain  what  the  supposed 
thing  was  intended  for,  he  walked  off  with  his  nose  very 
much  in  the  air  and  never  came  near  the  telegraph  line 
again,  as  far  as  we  know." 

After  a  short  laugh  over  the  incident,  one  of  the  youths 
asked  how  far  apart  the  stations  were. 

"The  distances  vary  considerably  according  to  circum- 
stances," said  their  informant.  "  In  some  places  they  are 
within  thirty  or  forty  miles  of  each  other,  and  there  are 
portions  of  the  line  where  they  are  one  hundred  miles 
apart.  There  are  two  operators  and  two  repairers  at  each 
station.  These  are  all  white  men,  and  some  of  them  have 
their  families  with  them.  In  addition  to  the  white  residents 
at  the  station,  there  are  all  the  way  from  two  or  three  to 
eight  or  ten  blacks.  The  blacks  in  our  service  are  gener- 
ally faithful,  and  we  put  a  great  deal  of  dependence  upon 
them.  Sometimes  they  are  treacherous,  but  not  often,  as 
treachery  is  not  a  part  of  their  nature. 

"  I  was  making  a  tour  of  inspection  of  the  line  shortly 
after  it  was  completed,  and  happened  to  be  at  one  of  the 
stations  at  a  time  when  the  blacks  were  threatening  trouble. 
One  of  the  operators,  Mr.  Britton,  was  accompanied  by 
his  wife.  Her  husband  wanted  her  to  go  to  a  place  of 
greater  safety,  but  she  refused,  and  said  she  would  stand 
bv  bis  side.     She  was  a  good  shot  with  the  revolver,  and 


ACROSS    AUSTRALIA.  91 

promised  that  in  case  of  trouble  she  would  put  her  abilities 
to  a  practical  test. 

"  The  blacks  came  about  the  station  to  beg,  and  also  to 
ascertain  the  strength  of  the  company,  and  one  evening 
word  came  that  they  were  going  to  have  a  corroboree  in  a 
little  patch  of  forest  near  the  station.  Perhaps  you  don't 
know  what  a  corroboree  is." 

Both  of  the  youths  shook  their  heads  and  acknowledged 
their  ignorance. 

"Well,  it  is  a  wild  sort  of  dance,  something  like  the 
dances  among  your  American  Indians,  with  local  varia- 
tions to  suit  the  climate  and  people.  The  dancing  is  done 
by  the  men,  who  get  themselves  up  in  the  most  fantastic 
manner  imaginable  with  paint  of  various  colors.  They 
daub  their  faces  with  pigments  in  streaks  and  patches,  and 
trace  their  ribs  with  white  paint,  so  that  they  look  more 
like  walking  skeletons  than  like  human  beings.  Generally 
at  one  of  these  dances  they  wear  strips  of  skin  around  their 
waists,  and  ornament  their  heads  with  feathers. 

"  I  said  that  the  dancing  was  done  by  the  men,  though 
this  is  not  absolutely  the  rule,  as  there  are  certain  dances 
in  which  the  women  take  part,  though  not  a  very  conspicu- 
ous one.  Generally  the  dances  are  by  the  people  of  one 
tribe,  though  there  are  a  few  in  which  several  tribes  take 
part.  As  a  usual  thing,  however,  this  kind  of  a  dance 
ends  in  a  fight,  as  the  dancers  work  themselves  up  to  a 
condition  of  frenzy,  and  if  there  is  any  ill  feeling  among 
them  it  is  sure  to  crop  out. 

"The  dances  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  telegraph  sta- 
tion to  which  I  referred  included  men  of  several  tribes,  and 


92  THE    LAND    OF    THE    KANGAROO. 

we  knew  that  mischief  would  be  likely  to  come  of  it.  Two 
of  our  black  fellows  went  as  near  to  the  scene  of  the  dance 
as  they  dared  go,  and  from  time  to  time  brought  us  par- 
ticulars of  the  proceedings. 

"We  got  revolvers  and  rifles  readv,  Mrs.  Britton  tak- 
ing possession  of  one  of  the  revolvers,  and  loading  it  very 
carefully.  All  along  during  the  evening  we  could  hear  the 
yelling  of  the  natives  at  their  dance,  but  an  hour  or  so 
before  midnight  the  noise  diminished,  and  one  of  our  black 
fellows  came  in  to  tell  us  that  they  were  preparing  to  attack 
the  station. 

"The  principal  building  of  the  station  was  a  block 
house  built  for  defense  against  the  blacks,  and  strong 
enough  to  resist  any  of  their  weapons  ;  but,  of  course,  they 
would  be  able  to  overpower  us  by  surrounding  the  place 
and  starving  us  out,  though  we  had  little  fear  of  that. 
The  great  danger  was  that  they  would  come  upon  us  in 
great  numbers,  and  as  we  were  not  sufficiently  numerous  to 
defend  all  parts  of  the  building  at  once,  they  could  set  it  on 
fire  and  thus  compel  us  to  come  out  and  be  slaughtered. 

"  The  warning  brought  by  our  black  fellow  proved  to 
be  correct.  The  men  who  had  been  engaged  in  the  dance 
had  left  the  scene  of  their  jollification  and  moved  in  the 
direction  of  the  station.  We  could  hear  their  voices  as 
they  approached,  and  it  was  much  to  our  advantage  that 
the  moon  was  of  sufficient  size  to  give  a  fairly  good  light. 
The  station  was  in  such  a  position  that  no  one  could 
approach  it  without  being  seen. 

"In  a  little  while  we  saw  in  the  moonlight  a  mass  of 
dark  figures   crossing  the  open  space  to   the  south,   and, 


ACROSS    AUSTRALIA.  93 

judging  by  the  ground  they  covered,  there  were  at  least 
a  hundred  of  them.  They  advanced  quietly  about  half 
way  across  the  clearing  and  then  broke  into  a  run,  while 
they  tilled  the  air  with  yells.  In  a  few  moments  they 
were  all  around  the  building,  and  quite  a  number  of  them 
threw  their  spears  at  it  —  a  very  foolish  procedure,  as  the 
weapons  could  do  no  harm  whatever  to  the  thick  sides  of 
the  structure.  It  was  our  policy  not  to  take  life  or  even 
to  shed  blood  if  we  could  possibly  avoid  it,  as  we  were 
anxious  to  be  on  friendly  terms  with  the- black  people  along 
our  line.  I  had  been  thinking  the  matter  over  in  the 
evening,  and  suddenly  hit  upon  a  scheme  that  I  thought 
would  save  us  from  injuring  anybody,  and  at  the  same 
time  <nve  our  assailants  a  thorough  scare. 

"  There  happened  to  be  in  the  station  a  package  of 
rockets,  which  had  been  brought  along  for  signaling 
purposes  during  the  work  of  construction.  Just  as  the 
crowd  of  blacks  reached  the  station,  I  asked  Mr.  Britton, 
the  chief  operator,  to  bring  me  one  of  the  rockets. 

"  He  complied  with  my  request,  and  I  fixed  the  missile 
so  that  it  would  go  just  above  the  heads  of  the  crowd  of 
veiling  blacks.  Then  I  touched  a  match  to  the  fuse,  and 
away  sailed  the  rocket  through  the  night  air. 

"  Not  one  of  those  aboriginals  had  ever  seen  anything 
of  the  kind  before.  They  started  not  upon  the  order  of 
their  going,  but  went  as  though  pursued  by  wild  tigers  or 
guilty  consciences.  They  could  not  have  been  more 
astonished  if  the  moon  had  dropped  down  and  exploded 
among  them.  They  gave  just  one  yell,  and  it  was  five 
times  as  loud  as  any  yell  they  had  previously  given. 


94 


THE    LAND    OF    THE    KANGAROO. 


"  In  less  than  two  minutes  from  the  time  the  rocket  was 
fired,  there  was  not  a  hostile  black  man  around  the  station. 
Our  own  black  fellows  had  been  trembling  with  fear,  as 
they  knew  that,  in  case  of  capture,  they  would  share  what- 
ever fate  was  in  store  for  us,  the  wild  blacks  being  greatly 
prejudiced  against  any  one  of  their  number  who  takes 
service  with  the  whites.  The  crowd  fled  in  the  direction 
of  the  scene  of  their  corroboree,  but  they  did  not  stop  there. 
We  learned  the  next  day  that  they  ran  three  or  four  miles 
before  coming  to  a  halt. 

"We  saved  the  station  and  ourselves  without  shedding 
a  drop  of  blood.  The  story  was  told  by  the  blacks  far 
and  wide  that  we  '  shot  a  star  at  them.'  This  gave  us  a 
hint  on  which  we  acted,  and  we  took  pains  to  circulate  the 
report  that  we  had  power  to  bring  all  the  heavenly  bodies 
to  our  aid  whenever  we  needed  them.  Several  times  we 
offered  to  chief  of  the  tribe  to  bring  down  the  moon,  or 
any  of  the  stars  that  he  might  designate,  but  for  fear  that 
he  would  take  us  at  our  word,  we  always  said  that  we 
would  not  be  responsible  for  the  consequences.  In  view 
of  these  circumstances,  he  invariably  asked  us  to  leave 
the  denizens  of  the  heavens  alone. 

"  All  the  attacks  on  our  stations  have  not  been  as  blood- 
less as  the  one  I  have  just  described,"  the  gentleman  con- 
tinued. "Three  or  four  years  after  the  line  was  opened 
the  blacks  attacked  a  station  about  one  thousand  miles  north 
of  Adelaide.  One  of  the  operators,  Mr.  Stapleton,  was 
mortally  wounded,  and  so  was  one  of  the  line  repairers. 
Both  the  other  white  men  at  the  station  were  slightly 
wounded,  and  one  of  the  blacks  in  our  service  was  killed. 


ACROSS     AUSTRALIA.  95 

The  attack  lasted  only  a  short  time,  and  the  assailants 
were  driven  away  by  the  well-directed  fire  of  the  people 
at  the  station. 

"The  mortally  wounded  operator,  Mr.  Stapleton,  was 
placed  on  a  conch,  while  the  other  operator  was  telegraph- 
ing the  news  of  the  occurrence  to  Adelaide.  A  doctor 
was  called  to  the  telegraph  office  in  the  city,  and  on  learn- 
ing the  nature  of  the  wound  he  pronounced  it  mortal. 
Mr.  Stapleton's  wife  was  a  telegraph  operator,  and  was 
then  employed  in  the  station  at  Adelaide.  A  telegraph 
instrument  was  placed  at  the  bedside  of  the  dying  man, 
and  connected  with  the  instrument  on  his  wife's  desk. 
The  two  exchanged  loving  messages  for  a  few  minutes, 
and  then  the  husband  with  his  last  efforts  telegraphed  an 
eternal  good-by  to  his  wife,  dropped  the  instrument  from 
his  hand,  and  fell  back  dead.  I  was  in  the  office  at 
Adelaide  at  the  time  of  this  occurrence,  and  was  one  of 
those  in  the  room  where  Mrs.  Stapleton  sat.  Nearly  all 
of  those  present  were  experienced  operators,  and  could 
understand  the  clicking  of  the  instrument.  Every  eye 
was  filled  with  tears,  and  every  heart  was  full  of  sym- 
pathy for  the  woman  who  had  been  so  tragically  widowed. 
As  she  received  the  final  message  of  farewell  she  fell  from 
her  chair  in  a  dead  faint,  from  which  she  did  not  recover 
for  hours." 

As  the  foregoing  story  was  narrated  to  our  young 
friends,  their  eyes,  too,  were  moist,  and  so  were  those  of 
Dr.  Whitney,  who  was  sitting  close  by  them.  Silence 
prevailed  for  several  minutes,  and  then  the  conversation 
turned  to  other  subjects. 


g6  THE    LAND    OF    THE    KANGAROO. 

The  gentleman  explained  that  the  northern  terminus  of 
the  telegraph  line  was  at  Port  Darwin,  where  connection 
was  made  with  the  telegraph  cable  to  Singapore,  and 
thence  to  Europe.  "  I  suppose,  in  time,"  said  he,  "there 
will  be  other  telegraph  connections,  but  for  the  present 
this  is  the  only  one  that  Australia  has  with  the  rest 
of  the  world.  Undoubtedly  we  shall  one  day  have  a 
cable  to  the  United  States,  and  that  will  certainly  greatly 
facilitate  commerce.  At  present,  telegrams  coming  from 
your  country  to  this  must  come  by  a  very  roundabout 
journey." 

Harry  asked  what  course  a  telegram  would  be  obliged 
to  take  in  coming  from  San  Francisco  to  Adelaide. 

"  Let  me  see,"  said  the  gentleman ;  "in  the  first  place, 
it  would  be  telegraphed  overland  from  San  Francisco  to 
New  York,  and  then  it  w^ould  go  under  the  Atlantic  Ocean 
through  one  of  the  transatlantic  cables,  and  then  there 
would  be  two  or  three  routes  by  which  it  could  be  sent. 
It  could  go  by  submarine  cable  to  the  Straits  of  Gibraltar, 
thence  under  the  Mediterranean  and  Red  Seas,  and  the 
Indian  Ocean  to  Bombay,  or  it  could  cross  Europe  by  one 
of  the  land  lines,  and  then  go  through  Russia  and  Persia 
to  the  north  of  India,  reaching  Bombay  by  the  land  route. 
From  Bombay  it  would  be  telegraphed  across  India  to 
Madras,  and  thence  by  submarine  cable  to  Singapore,  and 
from  Singapore  it  would  be  sent  by  cable  to  Port  Darwin, 
and  thence  by  the  Australian  overland  line  to  Adelaide. 
The  message  would  be  repeated  six  or  seven  times  in  the 
course  of  its  journey,  and  the  fact  that  so  few  mistakes 
are   made   in  the  numerous  repetitions,  many  of  them   by 


ACROSS    AUSTRALIA.  .  97 

people  having  an  imperfect  knowledge  of  English,  speaks 
volumes  in  praise  of  the  telegraph  system." 

Both  of  our  young  friends  heartily  indorsed  this  remark, 
and  agreed  with  their  informant  that  the  telegraph  cer- 
tainly performed  excellent  work. 

Our  friends  made  the  journey  along  the  line  of  railway 
to  which  they  had  been  invited.  They  found  it  interesting 
though  not  altogether  free  from  monotony,  as  there  was  an 
excessive  amount  of  sameness  in  the  country  through  which 
they  traveled.  They  passed  through  a  range  of  low 
mountains  which  were  not  sufficiently  broken  to  be  pictur- 
esque. They  crossed  several  dry  or  slightly  moistened 
beds  of  rivers,  where  indications  were  clearly  visible  that 
in  times  of  heavy  rains  these  dry  beds  or  insignificant 
streams  were  turned  to  floods.  Here  and  there  the  line 
crossed  immense  sheep  farms  and  also  great  wheatfields, 
but  there  were  wide  stretches  of  land  which  seemed  to  have 
no  occupants  whatever.  Most  of  the  country  was  open 
and  free  from  trees.  Then  there  were  other  parts  where 
the  line  passed  for  miles  and  miles  through  "  scrub/'  and 
at  irregular  intervals  they  came  upon  patches  and  stretches 
of  Australian  forest. 

Harry  noted  that  the  forests  through  which  they  passed 
had  very  little  undergrowth,  so  that  it  was  easy  to  ride  in 
any  direction  among  the  trees.  Most  of  the  trees  that  they 
saw  were  eucalypti,  of  which  there  are  many  varieties. 
The  eucalyptus  is  by  far  the  most  common  tree  of  Aus- 
tralia, and  the  best  known  variety  is  the  one  that  is  called 
"the  blue  gum."'  It  is  said  that  fevers  do  not  prevail 
where  the  eucalyptus   grows,  and  this  theory  seems  to  be 


98  THE    LAND    OF    THE    KANGAROO. 

developed  into  a  well-established  fact.  Decoctions  and 
other  extracts  are  made  from  the  leaves,  bark,  wood,  and 
gum  of  the  eucalyptus  and  are  given  to  fever  patients  with 
more  or  less  success.  The  eucalyptus  has  been  taken  to 
foreign  countries,  and  where  the  climatic  conditions  are 
suitable  it  has  flourished  and  established  itself.  The  French 
government  introduced  it  into  Algeria  and  planted  it  at 
military  stations,  where  the  soldiers  had  suffered  much  from 
malaria.  At  all  those  stations  the  malaria  was  long  ago 
driven  away  by  the  trees,  and  places  that  were  once  un- 
healthy are  now  renowned  for  their  salubrity. 

The  youths  observed  that  most  of  the  eucalyptus  trees 
were  tall  and  slender.  The  gentleman  who  accompanied 
them  said  that  their  trunks  were  often  found  with  a 
diameter  of  ten  to  twelve  feet,  and  some  had  been  meas- 
ured that  were  sixteen  feet  in  diameter  at  a  distance  of 
ten  feet  from  the  ground.  The  trees  grow  very  rapidly, 
and  their  timber  when  green  is  soft,  so  that  they  can  be 
felled,  split,  and  sawed  very  easily,  but  when  dry  it  be- 
comes very  hard.  It  is  a  very  useful  wood,  as  it  is  adapted 
for  many  purposes.  The  bark  contains  a  great  deal  of 
tannin,  and  it  has  become  to  some  extent  an  article  of 
commerce. 

The  leaves  of  the  eucalyptus  have  a  leathery  appear- 
ance and  generally  stand  in  a  vertical  position,  so  that  one 
side  receives  as  much  light  as  the  other.  A  valuable 
aromatic  oil  is  extracted  from  the  leaves,  and  is  used  for 
medicinal  and  other  purposes.  It  is  said  to  be  very  objec- 
tionable to  mosquitoes,  and  Harry  was  told  that  if  he 
scattered  a  few  drops  of  eucalyptus  oil  on   his  pillow  at 


ACROSS    AUSTRALIA.  99 

night,  he  would  not  be  troubled  with  mosquitoes,  even 
though  there  might  be  many  of  them  in  the  room.  He 
promised  to  try  the  experiment  at  the  first  opportunity. 

Ned  asked  what  variety  of  the  eucalyptus  was  the  tallest, 
and  how  tall  the  highest  tree  of  Australia  was. 

v'  The  giant  gum,  Eucalyptus  amygdalina^  is  said  to  be 
the  tallest  tree  in  the  world,*'  the  gentleman  replied.  "  1 
am  not  sure  whether  it  is  really  so  or  not,  as  you  have 
some  very  tall  trees  in  the  United  States,  and  there  are 
also  some  of  great  height  in  the  valley  of  the  Amazon 
River.  I  have  heard  of  giant  gum  trees  five  hundred 
feet  high,  but  their  location  has  always  been  given  very 
vaguely,  and  nobody  knew  by  whom  they  had  been  meas- 
ured. There  is  one  giant  gum  tree  on  "Mount  Baw-Baw, 
in  Gippsland,  that  has  been  officially  measured  by  a  sur- 
veyor and  found  to  be  four  hundred  and  seventy-one  feet 
high.  What  its  diameter  is  at  the  base  I  am  unable  to  say, 
but  probably  it  is  not  less  than  fifteen  or  sixteen  feet. 
New  forests  and  new  groups  of  trees  are  being  discovered 
from  time  to  time,  and  perhaps  we  will  one  day  find  a 
tree  more  than  five  hundred  feet  high. 

"  I  will  add,"'  said  their  informant,  "  that  the  giant  gum 
is  also  called  the  '  silver  stem,'  because  when  it  sheds  its 
bark  every  year  the  new  surface  of  the  tree,  when  the  old  one 
has  come  off,  is  as  white  as  silver.  A  group  of  these  trees 
is  a  very  pretty  sight,  as  the  trunks  are  perfectly  round, 
and  very  often  the  lowest  limbs  are  fully  two  hundred  feet 
from  the  ground." 


CHAPTER   VI. 

AUSTRALIAN    BLACKS THROWING    THE    BOOMERANG. 


THOSE    giant    g 
remarked,  as 


*HOSE  giant  gums  are  not  easy  to  climb,"  Ned 
the  gentleman  paused. 

"  Not  by  any  means,"  was  the  reply  ;  "at  least,  not  for 
a  white  man,  but  the  black  fellow  will  climb  one  of  them, 
or  any  other  tree,  with  very  little  trouble." 

"Why,  how  does  he  do  it?  " 

"  He  cuts  notches  in  the  trunk  of  the  tree  where  he  can 
place  his  feet,  and  he  goes  on  cutting  notch  after  notch  as 
he  ascends,  making  a  broad  spiral  around  the  tree  until 
he  reaches  the  limbs.  Sometimes  he  passes  a  piece  of 
rope,  made  out  of  twisted  bark,  around  the  body  of  the 
tree  to  steady  himself,  but  he  is  just  as  likely  to  take  no 
rope  along,  and  trust  entirely  to  keeping  his  balance  with 
his  feet  in  the  notches." 

"Those  black  fellows  are  very  accomplished  in  their 
way,"  remarked  one  of  the  youths. 

"  They  are,  indeed,"  was  the  reply  ;  "  and  they  do  cer- 
tain things  that  no  white  man  can  ever  do.  For  example, 
a  black  fellow  employed  on  a  cattle  estate  will  ride  at  full 
gallop  and  follow  the  track  of  a  runaway  cow  or  steer 
without  making  a  single  mistake.  A  white  man  would  be 
obliged  to  go  at  a  walk,  or  a  very  little  better,  and  quite 
frequently  would  find  it  necessary  to  dismount  and  examine 
the  ground  carefully.     The  black  fellows  are  fully  equal 


AUSTRALIAN    BLACKS.  IOI 

to  your  American  Indians  in  following  a  trail;  they  can 
track  men  almost  as  well  as  bloodhounds  can.  In  parts 
of  Australia  we  have  a  police  force  of  blacks,  and  they 
perform  splendid  service  in  hunting  highwaymen  and 
others  who  have  committed  crimes  and  fled  into  the  bush 
for  concealment  and  safety." 

Harry  asked  if  the  blacks  were  honest  in  their  dealings 
with  white  people. 

"  I  regret  to  say  that  their  reputation  is  not  by  any 
means  the  best  in  the  world."  was  the  reply.  "  Like 
savages  everywhere  when  brought  into  contact  with  civili- 
zation, they  seem  to  adopt  its  vices  and  reject  its  virtues. 
They  are  generally  faithful  to  those  by  whom  they  are 
employed,  and  in  this  repect  their  characters  are  commend- 
able. When  it  comes  to  ordinary  lying  and  stealing,  they 
are  very  skillful.  They  resemble  other  savages  in  their 
fondness  for  intoxicating  drinks,  and  when  they  get  a 
little  money  their  desire  to  go  on  a  spree  is  very  apt  to  be 
uncontrolable.  They  will  leave  their  work  and  go  to  the 
nearest  place  where  intoxicants  can  be  bought,  and  they 
keep  on  buying  and  drinking  until  their  money  is  gone. 
Generally  speaking,  you  cannot  keep  them  in  your  employ 
very  long.  As  soon  as  one  learns  his  business  so  that  he 
is  really  useful,  he  either  quits  or  behaves  in  such  a  manner 
that  he  has  to  be  sent  away." 

Just  as  this  last  remark  was  made,  the  train  halted  at  a 
station,  and  as  our  young  friends  looked  through  the  win- 
dow they  saw  a  group  of  blacks.  They  had  seen  a  few 
black  fellows  on  the  wheat  farm  that  they  visited,  and 
some   had  come  under  their  observation  in  the  streets  of 


102  THE  LAND  OF  THE  KANGAROO. 

Adelaide.  These,  however,  were  dressed  in  civilized 
garments,  and  the  group  at  the  station  was  the  first  they 
had  seen  in  aboriginal  dress. 

Harry  noted  the  scantiness  of  their  costume,  which  con- 
sisted chiefly  of  a  strip  of  cloth  about  the  waist,  and 
another  strip  thrown  over  the  shoulder  or  disposed  of  in 
some  fantastic  way.  Their  skins  were  black,  though  not 
of  the  inky,  coal-like  color  of  the  pure-blooded  African 
negro.  Their  hair  was  curly,  but  did  not  have  a  woolly 
crispness.  The  features  seemed  to  be  more  like  those 
of  the  Malay  than  of  the  Negro  race,  and  Ned  observed 
that  the  hair  of  the  women  hung  down  in  wavy  plaits, 
which  is  not  the  case  with  the  hair  of  the  negro  of  the 
Congo  or  the  Nile.  Every  man  in  the  party  carried  a 
spear,  and  Ned  wondered  why  they  were  not  armed  with 
bows  and  arrows. 

"That  is  for  the  very  simple  reason,"  said  their  infor- 
mant, "  that  the  Australian  aborigines  have  never  used  the 
bow  and  arrow ;  their  only  weapons  are  the  spear,  club, 
knife,  and  boomerang.  Their  principal  weapon  for  fight- 
ing is  the  waddy  or  club,  and  each  tribe  has  a  peculiar 
shape  for  its  waddies.  This  weapon  is  made  of  hard 
wood,  and  is  somewhat  suggestive  of  the  night  stick  of  a 
New  York  policeman,  with  the  difference  that  it  has  a 
knob  on  the  end  to  enable  it  to  be  grasped  with  greater 
security.  There  is  a  rule  in  fighting  with  the  waddy,  that 
you  must  hit  your  antagonist  on  the  head.  It  is  not  fair 
to  strike  him  in  any  other  part  of  the  body  with  these 
weapons,  and  the  man  who  would  do  so  would  not  be 
regarded  as  a  gentleman  in  aboriginal  society.     The  dif- 


AUSTRALIAN    BLACKS.  IO3 

ference  in  the  waddies  is  such  that  you  can  very  often  tell 
what  tribe  a  party  belongs  to  by  examining  one  of  their 
clubs. 

"They  are  accustomed  to  spears  from  their  childhood, 
and  can  throw  them  very  accurately  for  a  distance  of 
thirty  or  fort}'  yards.  I  once  saw  a  considerable  number 
of  blacks  together,  and  several  white  men  of  us  got  up  a 
competition  in  spear  throwing.  We  chalked  out  the  figure 
of  a  man  on  the  side  of  a  building,  and  then  paced  off 
forty  yards  from  it.  We  offered  a  prize  of  one  shilling  to 
every  black  who  would  hit  this  figure  with  the  spear  three 
times  out  of  five  at  the  distance  indicated.  We  had  them 
take  turns  in  succession,  and  when  the  competition  was 
over  we  found  that  we  were  obliged  to  give  a  shilling  to 
every  one  of  the  competitors,  as  all  had  hit  it  three  times. 
Half  of  them  did  so  four  times,  and  the  other  half  the 
entire  five  times." 

Ned  asked  what  the  spears  were  made  of.  He  learned, 
in  reply,  that  sometimes  they  were  single  shafts  of  wood 
tipped  with  stone,  bone,  or  iron.  Others  had  heads  of  hard 
wood,  while  the  shafts  consisted  of  light  reeds  which  grow 
on  the  banks  of  the  rivers  and  lakes.  The  spears  are 
usually  from  six  to  ten  feet  long,  at  least  the  lighting  spears 
are.  Some  of  the  tribes  living  along  the  rivers  have  spears 
fifteen  or  eighteen  feet  long,  intended  for  fishing  purposes 
and  not  for  war. 

Harry  wanted  to  know  what  was  the  religious  belief  of 
the  blacks,  and  what  were  their  ideas  about  the  creation. 

"  As  to  religion,**  the  gentleman  answered,  kk  they  don't 
seem  to  have  much,  and  the  little  they  do  have  is  of  a  very 


104  THE  LAND  OF  THE  KANGAROO. 

mixed  character.  Like  all  savages,  they  believe  in  good 
and  bad  spirits,  and  they  treat  the  bad  spirits  with  much 
more  ceremony  than  they  do  the  good  ones  ;  on  the  ground, 
I  presume,  that  it  is  necessary  to  propitiate  the  bad  spirits 
to  save  themselves  from  injury,  while  the  good  ones  can 
be  relied  upon  not  to  do  any  harm.  Some  of  the  tribes 
believe  in  a  Great  Spirit  or  Supreme  Being,  while  others 
have  no  idea  of  the  kind.  They  have  a  good  many  sup- 
erstitions, and,  though  not  a  people  of  much  imagina- 
tion, they  have  quite  a  variety  of  mythical  stories  that 
originated  a  long  time  ago,  and  have  been  handed  down 
by  tradition.  It  is  a  curious  circumstance  that  some  of 
these  myths  repeat  quite  closely  the  story  of  the  creation, 
the  fall,  and  the  deluge,  but  where  they  came  from  no- 
body can  tell." 

"  Is  there  any  book  where  we  can  find  any  of  these 
traditions?"  Harry  asked. 

"  Oh,  certainly  ;  they  have  been  collected  and  published, 
but  I  can  give  you  the  principal  ones  from  memory." 

"  The  story  about  the  creation  is,  that  one  of  the  spirits 
that  ruled  the  world  created  two  men  out  of  the  dust  of  the 
earth,  and  gave  these  two  men  a  very  rich  country  to  live 
in.  Another  spirit  created  two  women  and  gave  one  of 
them  to  each  man.  Then  he  gave  spears  to  each  of  the 
men,  and  told  them  to  kill  kangaroos  with  their  weapons, 
and  gave  sticks  to  the  women,  with  which  to  dig  roots  out 
of  the  ground.  Thus  it  came  about  that  men  carry  spears 
and  clubs  as  weapons,  while  the  women  perform  most  of  the 
menial  work.  The  men  and  women  were  commanded  to 
live  together,  and  in  this  way  the  world  in  time  became  full 


AUSTRALIAN     BLACKS.  IO5 

of  people.  They  grew  so  numerous  in  the  region  where 
they  were,  that  the  great  spirits  caused  storms  to  arise  and 
high  winds  to  blow  in  order  to  scatter  the  people  over  the 
globe. 

"The  tradition  about  the  first  sin  is,  that  the  first  man 
and  woman  were  ordered  by  the  spirits  not  to  go  near  a 
certain  tree,  as  a  bat  lived  there  which  must  not  be  dis- 
turbed. One  of  the  women  went  too  near  the  tree,  her 
curiosity  having  got  the  better  of  her,  and  the  bat  became 
alarmed  and  flew  away.  After  that  death  came  into  the 
world,  having  before  been  unknown. 

"They  have  another  tradition  that  at  one  time  all  the 
water  in  the  earth  was  contained  in  the  body  of  an 
immense  frog,  where  nobody  could  reach  it.  The  spirits 
held  an  investigation,  and  ascertained  that  if  the  frog  could 
be  made  to  laugh  the  water  would  run  out  of  his  mouth 
when  he  opened  it,  and  the  drought  then  prevailing  would 
be  broken.  All  the  animals  of  the  world  gathered  to- 
gether and  danced  and  capered  before  the  frog  in  order  to 
make  him  laugh,  but  all  to  no  purpose.  Then  they  called 
up  the  fishes  to  see  if  they  could  accomplish  anything,  but  the 
frog  preserved  a  solemn  face  until  the  eel  began  to  wriggle. 

"The  wriggling  of  the  eel  was  too  much  for  the  frog 
and  he  laughed  outright.  Immediately  the  waters  flowed 
from  his  mouth  and  the  earth  was  covered  with  water. 
Many  people  were  drowned,  and  all  who  could  do  so 
sought  the  highest  land.  The  pelican  undertook  to  save 
the  black  people  ;  he  made  a  great  canoe-  and  went  around 
picking  up  the  people,  wherever  he  could  find  them,  and 
thus  saved  a  great  many. 


106  THE  LAND  OF  THE  KANGAROO. 

"They  have  a  theory  about  the  sun,"  the  gentleman 
continued,  "  that  is  certainly  a  very  practical  one.  They 
say  that  as  it  gives  out  a  great  deal  of  light  during  the  day- 
time, it  needs  a  supply  of  fuel,  and  it  goes  at  night  to  a 
place  where  it  takes  in  fuel  enough  for  its  next  day's  work. 
They  say  that  it  used  to  take  in  wood  exclusively  before 
white  people  came  to  Australia,  but  since  the  arrival  of  the 
whites,  and  the  opening  of  coal  mines,  they  think  the  sun 
takes  in  both  coal  and  wood  at  the  place  where  it  renews 
its  supply. 

"They  believe  in  dragons,  great  serpents,  and  other 
wonders,  and  if  you  are  inclined  to  laugh  at  them  for 
their  beliefs,  you  must  remember  that  all  the  rest  of  the 
world  shared  in  them  two  or  three  hundred  years  ago. 
The  creature  in  which  they  have  the  greatest  faith  is  the 
bun-yip,  which  is  supposed  to  haunt  rivers,  lakes,  and 
other  bodies  of  water,  and  possesses  remarkable  powers. 
According  to  their  description,  he  is  like  a  dragon ;  he 
devours  black  and  white  people  indiscriminately,  and  can 
cause  all  sorts  of  misfortune.  Many  natives,  and  also 
quite  a  number  of  white  men,  claim  to  have  seen  him,  and 
they  certainly  give  some  very  graphic  accounts  of  his 
appearance  and  actions.  Not  long  ago  an  account  ap- 
peared in  one  of  the  Australian  newspapers,  written  by  a 
white  man  and  certified  to  by  another  white  man,  who 
claim  to  have  actually  seen  the  bun-yip  in  a  small  lake, 
and  described  him  very  minutely." 

"  And  was  the  story  really  true?"  Harry  asked. 

"  Well,  yes,  I  suppose  it  was.  That  is  to  say,  I  believe, 
as  do  many  others,  that  there  is  an  amphibious  animal  liv- 


AUSTRALIAN    BLACKS.  107 

ino-  in  some  of  the  Australian  lakes  and  rivers  of  which  no 
specimen  has  yet  been  taken.  The  description  of  the  bun- 
yip  hv  those  who  claim  to  have  seen  him,  and  are  not 
carried  away  by  their  imaginations,  is  very  much  like  that 
of  a  Newfoundland  dog  or  a  seal.  The  seal  exists  in  Aus- 
tralian waters,  and  I  think  that  is  what  the  bun-yip  will 
turn  out  to  be  if  one  ever  allows  himself  to  be  taken." 

At  the  station  at  the  end  of  the  line  of  railway  there  was 
an  encampment  of  blacks,  about  half  a  mile  away,  and  our 
young  friends  were  quite  curious  to  see  it. 

Their  curiosity  was  soon  satisfied,  as  there  was  nothing 
particularly  attractive  about  the  spot.  The  blacks  were 
civilized  enough  to  live  in  tents,  or,  rather,  they  accepted 
the  bounty  of  the  government  which  supplied  them  with 
tents,  though  it  was  evident  that  they  did  not  intend  to 
give  up  their  old  way  of  living,  inasmuch  as  they  had  two 
or  three  bark  shelters  of  the  old-fashioned  sort,  in  addition 
to  the  canvas  house  supplied  by  the  government.  And 
we  may  remark  here  that  the  various  colonial  governments 
provide  for  the  support  of  all  the  aboriginals  living  within 
their  territory.  Government  officials  take  care  of  them, 
supply  them  with  food,  clothing,  and  medical  comforts, 
and  assign  reservations  of  land  to  them,  just  as  the  Indian 
Department  of  the  United  States  assigns  reservations  to 
the  red  men.  But  with  all  the  care  they  receive,  their 
number  is  steadily  diminishing,  and  the  day  is  not  far 
distant  when  the  last  of  them  will  cease  to  exist. 

A  man  who  could  speak  the  language  of  the  aboriginals 
accompanied  our  young  friends  in  their  visit  to  the  encamp- 
ment.     At  Harry's  request,  he   arranged  with  the  men  to 


IOS  THE  LAND  OF  THE  KANGAROO. 

give  an  exhibition  of  their  skill  in  throwing  the  spear,  and 
after  that  was  over  he  asked  them  to  throw  the  boomerang. 
While  they  were  getting  ready  for  their  performance  the 
interpreter  explained  that  the  boomerang  was  a  great  deal 
of  a  mystery.  He  said  that  no  white  man,  even  after 
years  of  practise,  had  ever  been  able  to  throw  this  weapon 
with  any  degree  of  accuracy,  and  that  no  Australian  black 
could  explain  how  the  weapon  was  handled.  If  you  ask 
one  of  them  to  explain  about  throwing  the  boomerang,  he 
usually  says,  "You  throw  him,  that  all";  and  that  seems 
to  be  all  there  is  to  it. 

Ned  and  Harry  watched  the  performance  with  the 
greatest  care,  and  they  afterwards  said  that  they  knew  as 
much  about  it  before  they  witnessed  it  as  they  did  after- 
wards, with  the  exception  that  they  had  seen  with  their 
own  eyes  what  could  be  done. 

"  First,  you  must  understand,"  said  Ned  afterwards, 
"  that  there  are  several  kinds  of  boomerangs,  the  differ- 
ence being  in  size,  weight,  and  shape.  The  variations  in 
shape  are  so  slight  that  they  are  not  readily  perceived  by 
the  stranger,  though  a  black  would  have  no  difficulty  in 
determining  them.  The  lightest  of  the  boomerangs  weigh 
from  four  to  five  ounces,  while  the  heaviest  are  double  that 
weight.  Harry  happened  to  have  his  spring  letter-bal- 
ance in  his  pocket,  and  we  weighed  one  of  the  boomerangs 
that  we  saw  used.  Its  weight  was  about  six  ounces  and  our 
interpreter  said  that  he  considered  it  rather  a  light  one." 

"  The  heaviest  boomerangs  are  used  for  fighting  pur- 
poses and  for  killing  kangaroos,  emus,  and  other  large 
game. 


AUSTRALIAN    BLACKS. 


[O9 


"  The  boomerang  is  a  queerly  shaped  weapon.  It  is 
made  of  hard  wood  and  curved  like  a  bow,  the  curve 
from  point  to  point  being  about  a  quarter  of  a  circle.  The 
piece  of  wood  that  forms  the  boomerang  is  about  half  an 
inch  thick,  and  in  the  middle  it  is  two  and  one  half  inches 
wide,  narrowing  steadily  towards  the  end.  I  took  it  in  my 
hand  and  made  a  motion  as  if  to  throw  it,  whereupon  the 
owner  laughed,  and  indicated  by  signs  that  I  had  seized  it 
by  the  wrong  end. 

ik  When  he  made  ready  to  throw  the  weapon,  the  interpre- 
ter told  us  to  stand  perfectly  still,  lest  we  might  be  injured. 
I  asked  how  it  could  happen,  and  he  said  that  the  per- 
former always  selected  the  spot  to  which  the  boomerang 
returned,  and  by  changing  our  positions,  especially  after 
the  weapon  had  been  thrown,  we  might  be  struck  by  it 
when  it  came  back. 

"  Both  before  and  after  taking  his  position  the  performer 
carefully  observed  the  force  and  direction  of  the  wind,  as 
it  has  a  great  deal  to  do  with  the  flight  of  the  boome- 
rang. When  he  was  quite  ready  he  flung  the  weapon 
almost  straight  into  the  air,  where  it  circled  about  a  few 
times,  and  skimmed  along  near  the  ground  until  it  anus 
about  three  hundred  feet  distant ;  then  it  turned,  made  a 
slight  upward  motion  through  the  air,  and  finally  fell 
within  an  arm's  length  of  where  the  performer  stood. 
The  interpreter  explained  that  this  weapon  was  called  the 
return-boomeranij. 

"The  man  repeated  several  times  the  performance  with 
the  weapon,  bringing  it  close  to  his  feet  on  every  occasion. 
Then  a  coin  was  placed  in  the  end  of  a  split  stick  forty  or 


IIO  THE  LAND  OF  THE  KANGAROO. 

fifty  yards  distant,  at  the  suggestion  of  the  performer,  who 
stipulated  that  he  would  knock  the  coin  out  without  dis- 
turbing the  stick,  on  condition  that  he  should  have  the 
coin,  a  one-shilling  piece,  in  case  he  succeeded. 

"  He  balanced  the  boomerang  with  great  care  and  then 
threw  it.  It  made  several  gyrations  in  the  air,  and  when 
it  reached  its  destination  it  knocked  the  coin  from  its 
place  as  neatly  as  one  could  have  removed  it  with  his 
fingers.  All  who  stood  by  applauded  the  performer,  and 
he  was  given  the  opportunity  to  win  several  more  shillings 
in  the  same  way. 

"  I  ought  to  mention  that  each  time  when  he  threw  the 
boomerang  he  varied  his  manner  of  throwing  it.  Some- 
times he  sent  the  weapon  straight  into  the  air ;  next  he 
skimmed  it  along  the  ground,  and  next  he  launched  at 
an  angle  of  from  forty  to  sixty  degrees.  Every  time  he 
threw  it,  it  came  back  to  his  feet,  but  when  he  threw  it  at 
the  coins  in  the  stick  it  did  not  return. 

"  The  interpreter  explained  to  us  that  the  return-boome- 
rang was  more  of  a  toy  than  a  weapon,  as  the  regular 
boomerang  cannot  return  when  it  has  hit  something  in 
its  course.  Wonderful  stories  have  been  told  of  the  use 
of  this  weapon  in  war, —  how  the  black  fellow  will  launch 
it  two  or  three  hundred  yards,  and  have  it  kill  one  or  more 
of  his  enemies,  and  then  come  back  to  his  feet.  A  moment's 
thought  will  convince  any  one  that  the  two  things  together 
are  impossible.  In  order  to  return  to  the  place  whence  it 
started,  the  boomerang  must  not  encounter  or  even  touch  any- 
thing in  its  way.  When  it  is  used  for  killing  men,  or  wild 
animals,  it  does  not  come  back  to  the  ground  of  its  thrower. 


AUSTRALIAN     BLACKS.  Ill 


"  From  all  accounts  that  I  am  able  to  obtain,  the  boom- 
erang as  a  weapon  in  the  hands  of  a  good  thrower  is  very 
dangerous.  It  can  be  made  to  hit  a  man  concealed  behind 
a  tree,  rock,  or  house,  where  a  gun  or  a  spear  could  not 
possibly  reach  him.  As  a  hunting  weapon  it  is  of  great 
utility,  and  many  a  kangaroo  has  fallen  before  it.  The 
skillful  thrower,  within  reaching  distance  of  a  kangaroo  or 
an  emu,  is  as  sure  of  his  prey  as  a  white  man  would  be 
with  a  Winchester  rifle." 

Ned  and  Harry  tried  to  learn  from  the  performer  when 
and  by  whom  the  boomerang  was  invented,  and  all  they 
could  get  from  him  was,  "  Long  time  ago  ;  who  knows?  " 
He  threw  a  little  light  upon  the  subject  by  picking  up  a 
leaf  of  the  gum  tree,  holding  it  at  arm's  length,  and  then 
letting  it  fall  to  the  ground.  It  gyrated  and  changed  its 
course  as  it  descended.  Then  he  picked  it  up  and  threw 
it  straight  from  him,  when  it  gyrated  again  and  returned 
towards  him.  It  is  probable  that  the  idea  of  the  boomerang 
may  have  been  taken  from  the  motions  of  a  falling  leaf, 
and  especially  a  leaf  of  the  gum  tree.  As  the  weapon  is 
known  through  all  the  tribes  of  Australian  blacks,  it  is  not 
likely  to  have  been  a  recent  invention. 

"  I  have  read  somewhere,"  said  Harry,  "that  a  weapon 
similar  to  the  boomerang  was  known  to  the  ancient  Egyp- 
tians, and  that  there  is  also  something  of  the  same  sort  in 
use  among  a  tribe  of  Indians  in  Arizona.  If  it  is  true  that 
the  Egyptians  of  old  times  had  this  weapon,  we  may  well 
repeat  the  off-quoted  saying,  '  There  is  nothing  new  under 
the  sun,'  but  it  seems,  at  any  rate,  that  the  Australian  boom- 
erang is  greatly  superior  to  the  Arizona  one,  as  it  can  be 


112  THE  LAND  OF  THE  KANGAROO. 

projected  very  much  further  and  with  far  more  deadly 
effect." 

The  performer  with  the  boomerang  was  evidently  very 
well  satisfied  with  his  morning's  work,  and  he  was  certainly 
very  liberally  paid  for  his  performances.  He  invited  our 
friends  to  take  dinner  with  him,  at  least,  so  the  interpreter 
said,  though  the  youths  were  suspicious  that  the  invitation 
was  all  a  joke.  Anyhow,  they  did  not  accept  it,  as  they 
thought  that  the  meal,  with  the  surroundings-  which  were 
visible,  would  have  no  temptation  either  for  the  eye  or  the 
appetite. 

Harry  heard  the  following  story,  which  he  duly  entered 
in  his  notebook  :  — 

"Once  a  lawyer  undertook  the  defense  of  a  black 
fellow  who  had  been  arrested  for  stealing  a  gold  watch. 
The  evidence  was  wholly  circumstantial,  as  the  stolen 
property  had  not  been  found,  and  the  lawyer  handled  the 
case  so  well  that  the  alleged  thief  was  acquitted.  A  few 
hours  after  the  trial,  the  lawyer  was  seated  on  the  verandah 
of  the  principal  hotel  in  the  place,  engaged  in  conversation 
with  the  magistrate  before  whom  the  case  was  tried,  when 
along  came  the  black  fellow. 

"  '  Can  I  wear  the  watch  now?'  said  the  black,  at  the 
same  time  drawing  it  forth  from  an  inner  pocket. 

"The  magistrate  burst  into  a  loud  and  hearty  laugh. 
The  lawyer  laughed,  too,  but  his  laughter  had  a  very 
hollow  sound,  and  then  he  shouted  an  emphatic  '  No  ! '  to 
the  confiding  aboriginal." 

Quite  a  little  town  had  sprung  up  at  the  terminus  of  the 
railway,   and  Dr.  Whitney  said  it  reminded  him  of   the 


AUSTRALIAN    BLACKS.  113 

towns  along  the  Pacific  railways  of  the  United  States 
during  the  course  of  their  construction.  The  compar- 
ison, he  said,  was  favorable  to  the  Australian  town,  as 
the  inhabitants  seemed  far  more  orderly  than  did  those 
of  the  transitory  American  settlements.  During  the  time 
of  their  stay  there  was  not  a  single  fight,  and  the  cor- 
oner was  not  called  upon  to  perform  his  usual  official 
duties. 

The  terminus  of  the  railway  was  in  a  valley  which  was 
dignified  with  the  name  of  a  creek,  but  no  creek  was  vis- 
ible. Water  was  supplied  by  an  artesian  well,  driven  to  a 
depth  of  eight  hundred  feet.  The  water  was  slightly 
brackish  but  quite  drinkable,  and  when  it  was  made  into 
tea  or  coffee  the  brackish  flavor  disappeared. 

Our  friends  returned  to  Adelaide  by  the  way  they  had 
gone  from  it,  and  after  a  day  or  two  more  in  the  capital  of 
South  Australia,  they  took  the  train  for  Melbourne.  Ned 
made  note  of  the  fact  that  had  been  mentioned  to  him,  that 
of  all  the  money  raised  by  taxation  in  South  Australia,  one 
fifth  of  it  is  used  for  educational  purposes.  He  further 
added  that  the  same  was  the  case  in  all  the  colonies,  and 
he  thought  it  greatly  to  their  credit.  Harry  said  he  did 
not  believe  there  was  a  State  or  city  in  the  whole  American 
Union  where  such  a  large  proportion  of  the  public  money 
was  spent  for  educational  matters. 

The  youths  learned,  in  addition,  that  the  schools  through- 
out the  colonies  are,  generally  speaking,  of  excellent  quality 
and  the  opportunities  for  higher  education  in  academies, 
colleges,  universities,  medical  and  scientific  institutions,  and 
similar  seats  of  learning,  are  of  the  best  class.      Ned  made 


114  THE  LAND  OF  THE  KANGAROO. 

the  following  summary  from  the  Education  Act  of  South 
Australia :  — 

"  Schools  will  be  established  where  there  is  a  certain 
number  of  children  of  school  age,  who  will  pay  a  moderate 
fee  to  the  teachers  ;  four  pence  for  children  under  seven,  and 
six  pence  for  older  children,  per  child,  per  week.  In  addi- 
tion to  the  fees,  the  teachers  will  be  paid  by  the  government 
from  seventy-five  pounds  to  two  hundred  pounds  per  annum. 
Schoolhouses  will  be  provided,  and  all  the  necessary  edu- 
cational material.  Four  and  one  half  hours  constitute  the 
school  day-  All  children  of  school  age  are  required  to  be 
under  instruction  until  a  certain  standard  is  reached." 

Provision  is  made  for  the  free  instruction  of  children  whose 
parents  can  show  that  they  are  unable  to  pay  for  it,  but  fees 
can  be  enforced  in  all  cases  where  inability  to  pay  them  has 
not  been  proved.  Large  grants  have  been  made  by  the 
legislature  for  school  buildings,  teachers'  salaries,  etc.,  in 
order  to  efficiently  aid  in  the  development  of  a  thorough  and 
comprehensive  system  of  education  for  the  young. 

South  Australia  has  a  goodly  number  of  schools  for 
higher  education,  and  it  also  has  a  university  which  is  well 
attended.  The  majority  of  those  who  can  afford  it  send 
their  children  to  private  schools  rather  than  to  the  govern- 
ment ones,  believing,  and  no  doubt  correctly,  that  the  edu- 
cational facilities  are  greater  in  the  private  institutions  than 
in  the  public  ones. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

ADELAIDE  TO  MELBOURNE THE  RABBIT  PEST DANGER- 
OUS EXOTICS. 

THE  distance  from  Adelaide  to  Melbourne  is  about  six 
hundred  miles.  Our  friends  found  that  the  journey 
was  made  very  leisurely,  the  trains  averaging  not  more 
then  eighteen  or  twenty  miles  an  hour.  For  quite  a  dis- 
tance out  of  Adelaide  the  train  ascends  an  incline  as  far 
as  Mount  Lofty  station,  where  the  hill  or  mountain  of  that 
name  is  situated.  On  the  way  up  the  last  of  the  incline 
our  friends  watched  with  a  great  deal  of  interest  the  plains 
stretching  out  below  them,  and  the  city  which  they  had 
just  left  lving  at  their  feet  like  a  section  of  carpet  laid  off 
into  ornamental  squares.  Beyond  Mount  Lofty  station 
the  route  descended  into  the  valley  of  the  Murray  River, 
whose  waters  could  be  seen  winding  like  a  thread  through 
the  vellow  soil. 

"This  is  the  longest  river  in  Australia,  is  it  not?" 
queried  Ned. 

"  Yes,"  replied  the  doctor,  "  it  is  the  longest  and  largest 
river,  and,  as  you  have  already  learned,  it  is  the  only  one 
that  remains  a  real  river  throughout  the  year.  Its  mouth 
is  not  many  miles  from  Adelaide,  and  a  considerable  part 
of  its  course  is  through  South  Australia." 

"  I  wonder  they  didn't  establish  the  capital  city  at  the 
mouth   of    the   Murray,*'   remarked   Harry:     "they   would 

>'5 


Il6  THE  LAND  OF  THE  KANGAROO. 

have  had  the  advantage  of  a  navigable  stream,  which  they 
have  not  in  the  present  location." 

"Yes,  that  is  quite  true,"  Dr.  Whitney  replied;  "  and 
they  would  have  illustrated  the  saying  of  a  philosopher, 
that  great  rivers  nearly  always  run  past  large  cities,  but 
there  was  a  practical  difficulty  in  the  way,  of  which  you 
are  not  aware." 

"What  is  it?" 

"  The  Murray  at  its  mouth  has  a  bar  that  is  very  difficult 
and  dangerous  to  cross,  and  a  large  area  at  its  entrance 
consists  of  shallow  water.  The  mouth  of  the  river,  further- 
more, is  swept  by  southerly  winds,  which  bring  in  great 
waves  that  have  their  origin  in  the  neighborhood  of  the 
South  Pole.  Consequently  it  was  concluded  that  the  loca- 
tion of  the  city  at  the  place  with  the  largest  entrance  into 
the  sea  would  not  be  advantageous,  and  a  location  on 
Spencer's  Gulf  was  considered  preferable." 

"  Very  good  reasons,"  said  Ned,  "  and  I  have  no  doubt 
that  the  founders  of  Adelaide  acted  wisely.  They  certainly 
have  a  very  prosperous  city  where  they  are,  although  their 
seaport  is  several  miles  away." 

The  train  increased  its  speed  as  it  descended  the  incline, 
and  the  youths  found  plenty  of  occupation  and  amusement 
in  studying  the  scenery  on  each  side  of  them,  and  noting 
the  handsome  residences  of  the  merchants  and  other  well- 
to-do  inhabitants  of  Adelaide.  The  river  was  crossed  by 
means  of  an  iron  bridge,  a  substantial  structure  which  was 
evidently  built  to  last.  After  crossing  the  Murray,  the 
railway  proceeded  for  awhile  along  its  valley,  and  gradually 
left  it  to  enter  a  region  of  long-continued  monotony. 


ADELAIDE  TO  MELBOURNE.  117 

"For  hours  in  succession,"  said  Harry  in  his  journal, 
"we  had  little  else  but  scrub.  I  imagine  that  when  the 
surveyors  laid  out  the  railway  line,  they  took  their  bearings 
by  observation  of  the  moon  and  stars,  and  laid  it  directly 
across  from  one  side  of  the  scrub  country  to  the  other. 
Scrub  land  is  land  covered  with  bushes.  There  are  not 
many  varieties  of  bushes,  and  this  fact  helps  along  the 
monotonv.  There  is  one  bush  that  looks  like  an  umbrella 
turned  bottom  upwards,  and  another  that  resembles  an 
umbrella  standing  upright,  as  one  holds  it  to  keep  off  the 
rain.  Then  there  are  bushes  and  trees,  some  of  them  shaped 
like  bottles,  others  like  sugar  loaves,  and  some  like  nothing 
else  that  I  can  think  of  at  this  moment.  They  vary  from 
three  or  four  feet  in  height  up  to  fifteen  and  twenty  feet,  and 
sometimes  we  found  them  of  a  height  of  thirty  feet  or  more. 

"  Mile  after  mile  it  is  the  same.  I  have  heard  what  a 
terrible  thing  it  is  to  be  lost  in  the  scrub.  I  can  well  under- 
stand that  it  is  terrible,  and  can  also  understand  how  easily 
such  a  calamity  could  be  brought  about.  One  mile  of 
scrub  is  exactly  like  another  mile,  or  so  very  nearly  like  it 
that  it  is  next  to  impossible  to  tell  the  difference.  I  have 
heard  that  people  who  stepped  only  a  few  yards  from  the 
side  of  the  road  have  wandered  for  days  before  finding 
their  way  again,  or  have  been  sought  for  by  many  people 
before  they  were  found.  Many  a  man  has  lost  his  way 
in  the  scrub  and  never  been  heard  of  again,  or  perhaps 
years  after  his  bones  were  discovered  bleaching  at  the  foot 
of  a  tree,  where  he  had  sat  or  lain  down  for  his  last  rest 
when  he  could  go  no  further." 

A    portion    of    the    road    from    Adelaide   to   Sydney    is 


Il8  THE  LAND  OF  THE  KANGAROO. 

called  "  the  ninety-mile  desert,"  in  distinction  from  the  rest 
of  the  scrub  region.  It  was  a  great  relief  to  any  one  to 
get  out  of  this  desert  country,  and  reach  the  region  of 
farms,  and  fences,  cattle  or  sheep  pastures,  and  cultivated 
fields.  In  some  of  the  districts  through  which  our  trav- 
elers passed  they  saw  great  numbers  of  rabbits,  and  on 
calling  attention  to  them,  a  gentleman  who  was  in  the  rail- 
way carriage  told  them  something  about  the  rabbit  pest 
from  which  the  Australian  colonies  are  suffering. 

"  If  you  want  to  make  a  fortune,"  said  the  gentleman, 
"  find  some  way  for  destroying  the  rabbits  in  Australia. 
There  is  a  standing  reward  of  twenty-five  thousand  pounds 
(one  hundred  and  twenty-five  thousand  dollars  of  your 
money)  for  any  method  that  proves  successful.  The 
reward  is  offered  by  the  colony  of  New  South  Wales,  and 
the  other  colonies  will  pay  as  much  more." 

"  Were  there  rabbits  in  this  country  when  it  was  first 
discovered?"  Harry  asked. 

"There  were  no  rabbits  here,"  was  the  reply;  "  nor 
any  animals  like  them.  In  185 1,  a  gentleman  living  near 
Dunedin,  New  Zealand,  was  on  a  visit  to  the  old  country, 
and  it  occurred  to  him  that  it  would  be  a  nice  thing  to  have 
rabbits  in  New  Zealand,  so  that  they  could  amuse  them- 
selves by  chasing  the  little  creatures  with  dogs.  On  his 
return  from  England  he  brought  seven  rabbits,  and  they 
were  the  progenitors  of  all  the  rabbits  in  New  Zealand, 
Australia,  and  Tasmania.  For  a  few  years,  as  fast  as 
rabbits  were  obtainable  they  were  distributed  throughout 
the  colonies,  but  it  was  not  long  before  the  distributors 
found  out  their  mistake. 


ADELAIDE    TO    MELBOURNE.  HO. 

"The  rabbits  increased  and  multiplied  at  a  terrific  rate. 
How  many  there  are  now  in  the  colonies,  nobody  can  tell, 
as  it  is  impossible  to  take  a  census  of  them,  but  they  cer- 
tainly amount  to  many  millions.  They  have  destroyed 
millions  of  acres  of  sheep  pasturage,  so  that  many  farms 
which  once  supported  great  numbers  of  sheep  have  been 
deserted  in  consequence  of  the  rabbits.  Let  me  give  you  an 
illustration  that  I  know  about,  as  I  was  one  of  the  sufferers 
by  these  vermin.  Fifteen  years  ago,  I  owned  an  interest 
in  a  sheep  run  on  the  bank  of  the  Murray  River  in  the 
colony  of  Victoria.  Our  holding  extended  back  into  the 
dry  and  comparatively  worthless  country. 

"The  rabbits  got  in  there,  and  gradually  the  sheep 
were  starved  out.  Year  by  year  the  number  diminished, 
and  five  years  ago  I  sold  my  interest  in  the  run  for  a  very 
small  sum.  From  two  hundred  thousand  sheep,  the 
number  had  diminished  to  twenty-five  hundred,  and  these 
were  dying  in  the  paddock  for  want  of  food.  The 
rabbits  were  the  cause  of  the  whole  destruction.  They 
had  eaten  up  all  the  grass  and  edible  bushes,  and  it  was 
some  consolation  to  know  that  they  were  themselves  being 
starved  out,  and  were  dying  by  the  hundreds  daily. 
When  the  rabbits  there  are  all  dead  the  place  can  be 
fenced  in,  so  that  no  new  ones  can  get  there,  and  it  is  possi- 
ble that  the  grass  will  grow  again,  and  the  run  once  more 
become  a  place  of  value. 

"  The  storv  I  have  just  told  you,"  the  gentleman  con- 
tinued, "  is  the  story  of  a  great  many  sheep  and  cattle  runs 
all  over  Australia  and  New  Zealand.  All  sorts  of  means 
have  been  resorted  to  to  get  rid  of  the  pest,  and  while  some 


120  THE  LAND  OF  THE  KANGAROO. 

have  been  partially  successful,  none  have  been  wholly  so. 
The  best  plan  is  the  old  one,  to  lock  the  stable  before  the 
horse  is  stolen ;  that  is,  enclose  the  place  with  rabbit-proof 
fences  before  any  rabbits  have  been  introduced.  The 
Australian  rabbit  is  a  burrowing  animal,  and  unless  the 
fence  is  set  well  into  the  ground,  he  is  very  apt  to  dig  under 
it.  Thus  it  has  happened  that  many  an  estate  has  become 
infested,  even  though  the  owners  had  gone  to  the  expense 
of  enclosing  it. 

"  Most  of  the  cities  of  Australia  and  New  Zealand  have 
a  rabbit-skin  exchange,  just  as  you  have  a  cotton  ex- 
change in  New  York.  At  these  exchanges  ten  or  fifteen 
millions  of  rabbit  skins  are  sold  every  year,  or  an  aggre- 
gate perhaps  of  fifty  or  sixty  millions,  and  yet  the  number 
does  not  decrease  perceptibly.  Factories  have  been  estab- 
lished for  preserving  the  meat  of  the  rabbits  in  tin  cans,  and 
sending  it  to  market  as  an  article  of  food.  It  was  thought 
that  this  would  certainly  reduce  the  number  of  rabbits,  but 
it  has  not  vet  succeeded  in  doing  so. 

"Various  kinds  of  apparatus  have  been  devised  for  filling 
the  dens  of  the  rabbits  with  noxious  gases  that  kill  them, 
but  the  process  is  too  expensive  for  general  introduction ; 
and,  besides,  it  does  not  work  well  in  rocky  ground.  Re- 
wards are  given  both  by  the  government  and  by  the  owners 
of  land  for  the  destruction  of  rabbits,  and  these  rewards 
have  stimulated  men,  who  go  about  the  country  with  packs 
of  doss  to  hunt  down  the  rabbits  for  the  sake  of  the  bountv. 
Sometimes  the  whole  population  turns  out  in  a  grand  rabbit 
hunt  and  thousands  of  rabbits  are  killed.  Pasteur,  the 
celebrated  French  chemist,  proposed  to  destroy  the  rabbit 


ADELAIDE  TO  MELBOURNE.  121 

population  by  introducing  chicken  cholera  among  them  ;  he 
thought  that  by  inoculating  a  few  with  the  disease  he  could 
spread  it  among  the  others,  so  that  they  would  all  he  killed 
off.  He  admitted  that  the  chicken  population  would  be 
killed  at  the  same  time,  but  none  of  us  would  object  to  that 
if  we  could  get  rid  of  the  rabbits,  as  we  could  easily  rein- 
troduce domestic  fowls." 

Ned  said  that  he  wondered  why  the  rabbits  increased 
so  rapidly  in  the  Australian  colonies  and  not  in  the  United 
States  or  England. 

"Here  is  the  reason  of  it,"'  said  the  gentleman.  "In 
America  there  are  plenty  of  wild  animals,  like  wolves, 
weasels,  foxes,  ferrets,  and  the  like,  to  keep  down  the 
rabbit  population,  but  here  there  is  not  a  single  animal  to 
interfere  with  them.  They  have  no  natural  enemies  what- 
ever, and  consequently  have  things  entirely  their  own  way. 
They  breed  several  times  a  year  and  begin  to  breed  very 
young,  so  that  a  pair  of  rabbits  let  loose  in  a  given  locality 
will  in  a  few  years  amount  to  thousands  or  even  to  millions. 
There,  look  at  that  piece  of  ground  and  see  what  you 
think  of  it." 

The  boys  looked  where  the  gentleman  indicated,  and  saw 
what  seemed  to  be  a  field  of  tall  grass  or  grain  waving  in 
the  wind.  A  nearer  inspection  showed  that  the  ground 
was  covered  with  rabbits,  and  it  was  the  movements  of  the 
animals  that  caused  the  illusion  just  described. 

"  Rabbits  are  not  the  only  pests  from  which  the  colonies 
have  suffered,"  the  gentleman  continued;  "  I  will  tell  you 
about  more  of  them. 

"You  must  bear  in  mind,"  said   their  informant,  "  that 


122  THE  LAND  OF  THE  KANGAROO. 

when  Australia  was  settled  it  contained  very  few  of  the 
products,  either  animal  or  vegetable,  of  other  parts  of  the 
world.  Among  the  animals  there  were  no  noxious  ones 
except  the  dingo,  or  wild  dog,  which  was  found  in  various 
parts  of  the  country.  His  origin  has  been  a  matter  of 
conjecture,  some  believing  that  he  is  descended  from  dogs 
which  were  left  here  by  those  who  discovered  the  conti- 
nent, while  others  think  he  is  indigenous  to  the  soil.  All 
the  other  animals,  and  they  were  not  numerous,  were  harm- 
less in  their  character.  There  are  eight  kinds  of  kanga- 
roos, all  of  them  herbiverous.  They  are,  as  you  are 
doubtless  aware,  marsupials,  that  is,  they  carry  their  young 
in  a  pouch  until  they  are  able  to  run  about  by  themselves. 
The  dingo  lived  by  feeding  on  the  kangaroos,  and  thus 
kept  down  the  number  of  those  animals. 

"  Horned  cattle,  horses,  and  sheep  were  introduced  and 
successfully  raised.  The  wild  dogs  killed  sheep  and 
calves,  and  therefore  the  inhabitants  set  about  killing 
them.  As  the  dogs  decreased  in  number  the  kangaroos 
increased,  and  they  threatened  to  drive  the  sheep  to  starva- 
tion by  eating  up  all  the  grass.  Many  a  sheep  run  was 
rendered  worthless  by  the  kangaroos,  and  so  it  became 
necessary  to  establish  methods  of  reducing  the  number  of 
the  latter.  Battues  or  hunts  were  organized,  the  people 
gathering  from  all  directions  at  an  appointed  time  and 
place,  and  driving  the  kangaroos  into  pens  or  yards,  where 
they  were  slaughtered  by  the  thousand.  You  will  probably 
have  an  opportunity  of  seeing  a  kangaroo  hunt  before  you 
leave  Australia. 

"There  were  very  few  native  fruits,  and  we  introduced 


ADELAIDE    TO    MELBOURNE.  1 23 

the  fruits  of  England  and  other  parts  of  the  world  very 
successfully.  We  introduced  garden  plants  and  vege- 
tables in  great  numbers,  and  nearly  all  of  them  turned  out 
to  our  satisfaction,  though  this  was  not  uniformly  the 
case. 

"You  know  that  innocent  and  very  acceptable  plant 
called  the  watercress,  which  is  sold  in  great  quantities  for 
table  use  in  London,  New  York,  and  other  English  and 
American  cities.  Well,  we  brought  the  watercress  to  the 
Australian  colonies,  and  it  grew  and  thrived  wonderfullv. 
It  grew  altogether  too  well  and  thrived  a  great  deal  more 
than  we  could  have  wished,  as  it  has  choked  our  rivers, 
and  caused  freshets  and  floods  which  have  devastated 
farms  and  fields  to  a  large  extent,  and  on  several  occasions 
have  been  destructive  to  human  life. 

"  We  introduced  the  sweet  briar,  thinking  it  would  form 
an  ornament  and  rill  the  air  with  its  perfume.  Instead  of 
being  ornamental,  it  has  become  an  impenetrable  bush, 
which  neither  man  nor  cattle  can  go  through.  It  has  be- 
come a  nuisance,  spreading  over  the  ground  and  destroying 
pasturage,  and  we  heartily  wish  that  not  a  twig  of  it  was 
ever  brought  here. 

"When  we  began  to  grow  fruits  we  found  ourselves 
annoyed  by  insects  of  various  kinds,  the  same  sort  of  insects 
that  are  known  to  fruit  growers  everywhere.  In  order  to 
get  rid  of  them,  we  brought  the  English  sparrow  here.  He 
is  of  great  use  to  the  fruit  grower  in  the  old  country,  as  he 
lives  principally  on  insects,  or  at  any  rate  has  the  reputa- 
tion of  doing  so,  and  he  does  not  often  attack  the  fruit. 

"  Well,  we  got  the    sparrow  here,   and  he  increased  and 


I24  THE  LAND  OF  THE  KANGAROO. 

multiplied  until  he  became  very  numerous,  and  what  do 
you  suppose  the  little  wretch  did? 

"  He  did  not  do  anything  that  we  wanted  him  to  do.  He 
abandoned  his  English  practise  of  eating  insects,  and  lived 
wholly  upon  grain  and  fruit.  In  the  fruit  season  he  is  a 
perfect  terror  in  the  devastation  he  makes  among  our  fruit 
trees.  A  flock  of  sparrows  will  make  its  appearance  in  a 
cherry  garden  where  there  are  twenty,  fifty,  or  perhaps  a 
hundred  cherry  trees  bending  beneath  a  burden  of  fruit  just 
about  ripe  enough  to  be  picked.  They  save  the  owner  the 
trouble  and  expense  of  picking  his  fruit,  as  they  take  entire 
charge  of  it,  and  in  a  few  clays  the  whole  crop  is  ruined. 
Other  fruit  suffers  in  the  same  way,  and  the  testimony  is 
the  same  from  all  parts  of  Australia.  One  of  the  colonial 
governments  had  an  investigation  of  the  subject  at  one  time, 
and  the  testimony  was  something  appalling.  The  sparrows 
abound  here  in  countless  millions,  all  of  them  descended 
from  fifty  birds  that  were  imported  about  the  vear  i860. 
The  owners  of  vine}Tards,  as  well  as  the  fruit  farmers,  com- 
plain of  the  ravages  of  the  sparrows,  and  at  the  official 
investigation  that  I  mentioned  one  vine  grower  testified  that 
his  crop  of  grapes  the  previous  year  would  have  been  two 
tons,  but  the  sparrows  destroyed  the  entire  lot. 

"Another  bird  almost  as  destructive  as  the  sparrow  is 
the  mina  or  nn'iw,  a  bird  which  was  brought  here  from 
India.  It  is  quite  a  handsome  bird,  and  can  learn  to  talk 
almost  as  readily  as  the-  parrot,  and  that  is  why  it  was 
brought  here.  It  lives  on  fruits  and  vegetables,  and  has 
very  nearly  the  same  habits  as  the  sparrow.  The  colonial 
government  have  placed  a  bounty  upon  the  heads  and  eggs 


ADELAIDE  TO  MELBOURNE.  125 

of  the  sparrow,  and  also  on  those  of  the  mina.  A  great 
many  boys  and  men,  too,  make  a  fairly  good  revenue  in 
killing  the  birds  or  plundering  their  nests.  The  birds  arc 
trapped,  shot,  or  poisoned,  but  their  number  does  not  seem 
to  diminish. 

"  Somebody  brought  a  daisy  to  Australia,  as  it  is  a  very 
popular  flower  in  England,  and  was  expected  to  remind  the 
English  settler  of  his  old  home.  It  has  spread  very  rapidly, 
and  on  thousands  upon  thousands  of  acres  it  has  rooted  out 
the  native  grasses  and  taken  full  possession  of  the  soil. 
Another  plant  has  a  history  which  would  be  ludicrous  if  it 
were  not  so  serious,  and  that  is  the  thistle." 

"  You  mean  the  regular  thistle,  such  as  is  known  in 
England  and  the  United  States  ?  " 

"  I  refer  particularly  to  the  Scotch  thistle,"  said  the 
gentleman,  "  which  is  not  particularly  unlike  the  other 
thistles  with  which  we  are  familiar.  You  know  that  the 
thistle  is  the  emblem  of  Scotland,  and  may  be  said  to  be 
worshipped  by  all  patriotic  Scotchmen.  Well,  it  happened 
that  a  Scotch  resident  of  Melbourne,  while  visiting  the  old 
country,  took  it  into  his  head  to  carry  a  thistle  with  him  on 
his  return  to  Australia.  So  he  placed  the  plant  in  a  pot 
and  watered  it  carefully  every  day  during  the  voyage  from 
London  to  Melbourne.  When  he  arrived  his  performance 
was  noticed  in  the  newspapers,  and  a  subscription  dinner 
was  arranged  in  honor  of  the  newly  arrived  plant.  About 
two  hundred  Scotchmen  sat  down  to  the  dinner,  at  which 
the  thistle  was  the  centerpiece  and  the  great  object  ot  at- 
traction. Speeches  were  made,  and  the  festivities  contin- 
ued to  a  late   hour  of  the.   night.      The  next  day  the  thistle 


126  THE  LAND  OF  THE  KANGAROO. 

was  planted  with  a  great  deal  of  ceremony,  and  more 
speeches  in  the  public  garden  at  Melbourne,  and  it  was 
carefully  watched  and  tended  by  the  gardener,  who  hap- 
pened to  be  a  Scotchman. 

"  Well,  the  thistle  blossomed  and  everybody  rejoiced. 
You  know  how  the  seeds  of  that  plant  are  provided  with 
down,  that  enables  them  to  float  on  the  wind.  The  seeds 
of  that  thistle  were  borne  on  the  breezes,  and  all  over  the 
colony  of  Victoria  they  found  a  lodging  in  the  soil,  grew 
and  prospered,  and  sent  out  more  seeds.  That  thistle 
has  been  the  cause  of  ruin  to  many  a  sheep  and  cattle 
run  all  over  Australia.  Thousands,  yes,  millions,  of 
acres  of  grass  have  been  destroyed  by  that  pernicious 
weed.  Anathemas  without  number  and  of  the  greatest 
severity  have  been  showered  upon  the  thick-headed 
Scotchman  who  brought  the  plant  to  Australia,  and  the 
other  thick-headed  Scotchmen  who  placed  it  in  the  public 
garden. 

"  While  I  am  on  this  subject,"  the  gentleman  continued, 
"  I  may  as  well  tell  you  of  a  very  curious  circumstance  in 
New  Zealand." 

"What  is  that?" 

"  When  the  sheep  farmers  first  established  their  business 
in  the  mountain  regions  of  New  Zealand,  they  observed 
flocks  of  parrots  occupying  the  forest,  and  living  entirely 
upon  fruits  and  vegetables.  They  were  very  pretty  birds 
and  nobody  thought  that  any  harm  would  come  from  them, 
in  view  of  their  habits  of  life.  The  farmers  used  to  kill 
some  of  their  sheep  for  food  purposes,  and  leave  the  meat 
hanging  out  over   night  in  the  cool   air.      It  was   observed 


ADELAIDE    TO    MELBOURNE.  1 27 

that  the  parrots  got  in  the  habit  of  coming  down  to  the 
meat  frames  and  picking  off  the  layers  of  fat,  particularly 
those  around  the  kidneys.  Their  fondness  for  this  kind  of 
food  seemed  to  increase  as  time  went  on,  and  they  finally 
became  such  a  nuisance  as  to  compel  the  herders  to  give 
up  their  practise  of  leaving  the  meat  out  of  doors  in  the 
night-time. 

"  After  a  while  the  farmers  occasionally  found  the 
fattest  and  best  of  their  sheep  dead  or  dying  of  wounds 
across  the  smaller  part  of  the  back  directly  in  the  region 
of  the  kidneys.  Nobody  could  tell  how  the  wounds  were 
made,  but  it  was  evident  that  the  mischief-makers  were 
numerous,  as  a  good  many  sheep,  always  the  finest  of 
the  flock,  were  killed.  Finally,  one  of  the  men  employed 
about  a  sheep  run  ventured  to  suggest  that  it  must  be  done 
by  the  parrots.  His  suggestion  was  ridiculed  so  earnestly 
that  the  man  was  sorry  he  had  made  it,  but  he  gave  as  his 
reason  for  it  the  fact  that  he  had  seen  a  parrot  perched  on 
the  back  of  a  sheep  and  the  bird  flew  away  when  he 
approached. 

• '  Watchers  were  set  over  the  sheep,  and  the  suggestion 
of  the  man  proved  to  be  the  correct  one.  How  the  birds 
ever  connected  the  existence  of  the  fat  which  they  tore  from 
the  carcases  on  the  meat  frames  with  the  location  of  the 
same  fat  in  the  living  animal,  no  one  can  tell,  but  certain 
it  is  that  they  did  so.  It  was  found  that  a  parrot  bent  on 
securing  a  meal,  would  fasten  his  claws  in  the  wool  of  the 
sheep,  and  then  with  his  powerful  beak  he  would  tear 
away  the  skin  and  flesh  until  he  reached  the  fat  of  which 
he    was  in  search  around  the  kidneys  of    the  struggling 


128  THE  LAND  OF  THE  KANGAROO. 

animal.  It  was  impossible  for  the  sheep  to  shake  him 
off ;  whether  it  ran  or  lay  down  and  writhed  in  its  agony, 
the  bird  retained  its  hold  until  its  object  was  accomplished." 

"  Of  course  this  led  to  a  war  of  extermination  against 
the  parrots,  did  it  not?  " 

"  Certainly  it  did.  As  soon  as  the  fact  was  well  estab- 
lished the  colonial  government  offered  a  reward  of  one 
shilling  for  each  parrot's  head,  and  the  business  of  hunting 
these  birds  began  at  once.  Formerly  they  used  to  come 
freely  into  the  presence  of  man,  but  now  they  shun  him, 
and  it  is  very  difficult  to  find  them.  They  live  in  the 
forest,  concealing  themselves  in  the  daytime,  and  only 
coming  out  at  night.  In  fact,  their  depredations  were 
committed  in  the  night-time,  and  that  is  the  reason  why 
their  offences  continued  so  long  without  being  discovered." 

"  Did  they  cause  great  destruction  among  the  flocks  of 
sheep? " 

"Yes,  until  they  were  found  out  and  the  war  began 
against  them  they  were  terribly  destructive.  One  man 
lost  two  hundred  sheep  out  of  three  hundred,  another  lost 
nineteen  out  of  twentv,  and  several  others  in  the  same  pro- 
portion. Even  now,  although  the  number  of  parrots  is 
diminished  enormously,  the  flocks  in  the  region  where 
they  abound  lose  at  least  two  per  cent,  every  year  from 
that  cause." 

"  Is  there   any  way  of  exterminating  them  by  poison?" 

"No  way  has  been  discovered  as  yet,  as  the  birds  are 
very  cunning  and  cannot  be  readily  induced  to  take  poi- 
soned food.  They  are  more  wary  in  this  respect  than 
rabbits  and   sparrows,  as  both  of  these   creatures  can  be 


ADELAIDE    TO    MELBOURNE.  1 29 

poisoned,  though  the  danger  is  that  in  attempting  to  poison 
them  the  food  is  apt  to  be  taken  by  domestic  animals  or 
fowls/' 

"Speaking  of  poisoning  reminds  me  of  an  instance  in 
Queensland  some  years  ago,  where  there  was  a  large  num- 
ber of  blacks  inhabiting  the  forest  near  a  sheep  station. 

"The  owner  of  the  station  had  been  greatly  annoyed 
by  the  blacks,  who  had  killed  many  of  his  sheep,  and  in 
several  instances  had  threatened  the  shepherds  with  death, 
and  driven  them  from  their  places.  He  determined  to 
get  even  with  them,  and  this  is  the  way  he  did  it.  He 
loaded  a  cart  with  provisions  such  as  flour,  sugar,  bacon, 
tea,  and  other  things,  which  were  distributed  to  the  shep- 
herds once  a  week.  Then  the  cart  started  apparently  on 
its  round.  Near  the  place  where  the  blacks  were  congre- 
gated one  of  the  wheels  of  the  cart  came  off,  and  at  the 
same  time  the  vehicle  became  stuck  in  a  gully.  The 
driver  took  his  horses  from  the  shafts  and  rode  back  to  the 
station  for  help,  leaving  the  cart  and  its  load  unguarded. 

"  Here  was  a  fine  opportunity  for  the  blacks  to  exercise 
their  thieving  propensities,  and  they  did  not  miss  it.  In  less 
than  an  hour  the  cart  was  stripped  of  everything  edible, 
flour,  sugar,  and  everything  else  being  carried  away. 
When  the  driver  returned,  he  found  only  the  empty  vehicle 
with  which  to  continue  his  journey. 

"That  afternoon  the  blacks  had  a  grand  feast  over  the 
stolen  property.  All  the  members  of  the  tribe  came  to- 
gether and  took  part  in  the  feast,  about  two  hundred  in  all. 
It  so  happened  that  everything  edible  had  been  dosed  with 
strychnine  before  the  cart  was  loaded,  and  in  a  few  hours 


130  THE  LAND  OF  THE  KANGAROO. 

all  who  had  partaken  of  the  feast  were  dead.  Much  as  the 
white  people  around  there  had  been  annoyed  by  the  blacks, 
there  were  few,  if  any,  to-  approve  of  this  wholesale  poison- 
ing which  the  sheep  owner  had  undertaken  entirely  on  his 
own  responsibility.*' 

"I  suppose  it  is  due  in  some  measure,  at  least,  to  per- 
formances of  this  sort  that  the  blacks  are  diminishing  in 
number,"  Dr.  Whitney  remarked. 

"  No  doubt  that  has  a  good  deal  to  do  with  the  matter," 
was  the  reply.  "  I  don't  know  of  any  other  instances  than 
this  of  wholesale  poisoning,  but  I  do  know  that  in  a  good 
manv  instances,  black  men  have  been  shot  down  by  whites 
for  the  reason  that  they  had  speared  cattle  or  committed 
other  depredations.  The  blacks  have  been  treated  very 
much  the  same  way  as  your  American  Indians,  and  gen- 
erally  with  as  little  provocation  :  but,  beyond  all  this,  it  is 
well  known  that  the  number  of  births  among  them  every 
year  is  considerably  less  than  the  number  of  deaths  from 
natural  causes.  Some  people  believe  that  the  blacks  are 
addicted  to  infanticide,  and  that  many  of  their  children  are 
put  to  death  to  save  the  expense  of  bringing  them  up. 
Understand  me,  nobody  knows  positively  that  this  is  the 
case,  but  only  surmises  it." 


CHAPTER   VIII. 

CANNIBAL  BLACKS MELBOURNE    AND  ITS   PECULIARITIES. 

I  II AYE  heard,"  said  one  of  the  youths,  "that  Aus- 
tralian blacks  are  cannibals.  I  wonder  if  that  is 
really  so?" 

"  Perhaps  all  the  tribes  in  the  country  are  not  cannibals, 
but  it  is  pretty  certain  that  some  of  them  are.  They  know 
that  the  white  man  is  prejudiced  against  eating  human 
flesh,  and  consequently  they  conceal  very  carefully  their 
performances  in  this  line.  In  former  times  they  were  not 
so  particular,  and  there  was  the  most  positive  proof  that 
they  devoured  their  enemies  killed  in  battle,  and  also  killed 
and  devoured  some  of  their  own  people.  They  were  not 
such  epicures  in  cannibalism  as  the  inhabitants  of  the 
Feejee  Islands  formerly  were,  and  did  not  make  as  much 
ceremony  as  the  Feejeeans  over  their  feasts  of  human 
flesh.  Some  of  the  tribes  that  indulged  in  the  practise 
have  given  it  up,  but  the  belief  is  that  those  in  the  interior 
still  adhere  to  it." 

"  What  do  they  live  upon  when  they  do  not  eat  human 
flesh  ?  "  queried  Ned. 

"As  to  that,"  was  the  reply,  "  they  live  upon  pretty 
nearly  everything  they  can  lay  their  hands  on.  They 
hunt  the  kangaroo  and  are  fond  of  its  flesh,  and  they  are 
also  fond  of  the  flesh  of  cattle  and  sheep.  In  fact,  they 
commit  a   good    many   depredations   upon  the    flocks   and 


132  THE  LAND  OF  THE  KANGAROO. 

herds.  They  eat  snakes,  lizards,  toads,  and,  in  fact,  any- 
thing that  lives  and  moves,  and  they  are  not  at  all  partic- 
ular about  the  condition  of  the  meat  when  they  eat  it.  It 
is  all  the  same  to  them  whether  it  is  fresh  or  putrid.  A 
man  would  need  have  a  very  strong  stomach  to  accept  an 
invitation  to  take  dinner  with  a  family  of  uncivilized  blacks, 
or  even  with  one  that  had  become  civilized." 

While  this  conversation  was  going  on  the  train  was 
speeding  on  its  way,  and  Harry  observed  that  the  houses 
were  becoming  more  numerous,  and  the  country  more 
densely  occupied,  as  they  came  nearer  to  Melbourne.  Oc- 
casionally they  caught  sight  of  a  house  which  looked  like 
a  gentleman's  residence  rather  than  like  an  ordinary  farm- 
house, and  he  called  attention  to  the  circumstance. 

"  We  are  approaching  Melbourne,"  said  their  traveling 
companion,  "  and  from  this  point  on  you  will  find  a  good 
many  country  seats  of  gentlemen  who  do  business  in  the 
city.  It  is  cooler  here  in  summer  than  in  Melbourne,  and 
a  great  many  people  have  established  their  summer  homes 
in  this  region.  It  is  so  much  the  fashion,  that  it  has  be- 
come obligatory  for  the  well-to-do  citizen  to  have  a  town 
residence  and  a  country  one,  and  his  establishment  is 
considered  incomplete  unless  he  possesses  both.  A  good 
many  people  occupy  their  country  homes  for  the  greater 
part  of  the  year,  going  back  and  forth  by  railway  accord- 
ing to  the  requirements  of  their  business.  It  is  the  same 
in  New  York,  London,  and  other  great  cities  all  over  the 
world.  Melbourne  considers  itself  just  as  important  as 
any  other  city,  and  I  believe  it  claims  to  be  the  tenth  city 
of  the  world  in  point  of  population." 


CANNIBAL,    BLACKS.  133 

Ned  asked  what  the  population  of  the  city  was. 

To  this  the  gentleman  replied  that  he  did  not  have 
the  exact  figures  at  hand,  but  he  believed  the  last  census 
gave  the  number  of  inhabitants  as  very  nearly  half  a  mil- 
lion. "Including  the  suburbs,"  said  he,  "I  think  it  is 
fully  that,  and  if  it  had  not  been  for  the  dullness  of  busi- 
ness for  the  last  two  or  three  years,  caused  very  largely  by 
the  labor  strikes  and  other  disturbances  of  trade,  I  think 
we  would  now  exceed  the  half  million  figure." 

While  he  was  saving  this,  Ned  called  attention  to  a  large 
house  on  a  little  eminence  about  half  a  mile  away,  which 
resembled  a  palace  more  than  it  did  a  private  dwelling. 
As  Ned  pointed  towards  it  and  told  Harry  to  look  in  that 
direction,  the  gentleman  said  :  — 

"That  house  was  built  ten  or  twelve  years  ago  by  a 
millionnaire  merchant  of  Melbourne.  He  spent  a  great 
deal  of  money  upon  it,  being  determined  to  have  the  finest 
house  in  the  country.  About  the  time  of  its  completion  he 
met  with  heavy  losses  in  business,  and  was  unable  to  carry 
out  his  plans  concerning  the  grounds  around  the  building. 
It  was  his  original  intention  to  have  a  park,  in  which  he 
would  enclose  specimens  of  all  the  animals  of  Australia, 
and  an  artificial  lake,  with  specimens  of  all  the  fishes  of  the 
country.  He  has  never  carried  out  this  part  of  the  scheme, 
but  declares  that  he  will  do  so  whenever  his  wealth  returns 
to  him." 

"  A  very  good  scheme,  indeed,"  said  one  of  the  youths, 
"  and  I  hope  the  gentleman  will  be  able  to  carry  it  out." 

"  Yes  ;  and  I  hope  so,  too,"  was  the  reply.  "  The  place 
would  be  made  interesting  if  he  should  do  so,  but,  after  all, 


134  THE    LAND    OF    THE    KANGAROO. 

you  can  see  the  same  thing  in  the  parks  of  the  principal 
cities  of  Australia.  Each  has,  I  believe,  collections  of  the 
animals  of  the  country,  together  with  many  animals  of  other 
countries,  and  any  one  is  at  full  liberty  to  go  and  see  them." 

Houses  became  more  numerous,  and  towns  and  villages 
made  their  appearance  as  the  train  went  along.  Harry 
observed  that  in  some  of  the  towns  which  they  passed 
through  there  were  imposing  buildings,  which  seemed 
rather  out  of  proportion  to  the  number  of  dwelling-houses. 

Their  impromptu  guide  explained  that  this  was  the  out- 
growth of  Australian  politics.  "  Every  town  in  Australia," 
said  he,  "  is  desirous  of  having  some  of  the  public  money 
spent  within  its  limits.  It  wants  a  court-house,  jail,  or 
some  other  public  edifice,  and  in  order  to  secure  his  elec- 
tion to  the  legislature,  a  candidate  is  compelled  to  promise 
that  he  will  obtain  the  desired  appropriation.  These  appro- 
priations are  secured  by  what  you  call  in  America  '  log- 
rolling.' That  is,  Smith  of  one  town  makes  an  arrange- 
ment with  Brown,  Jones,  Robinson,  and  I  don't  know  how 
many  others  of  as  many  other  towns  that  he  will  vote  for 
their  appropriations,  provided  they  will  vote  for  his.  In 
this  way  a  town  of  rive  hundred  inhabitants  gets  a  court- 
house and  jail  large  enough  for  a  population  of  five  thou- 
sand, or  perhaps  twice  that  number.  A  great  deal  of 
government  money  has  been  wasted  in  this  way,  but  there 
is  no  help  for  it  as  long  as  human  nature  remains  as  it  is.'' 

This  led  to  a  little  talk  on  Australian  politics,  in  which 
the  youths  learned  that  the  people  were  divided  into  parties 
very  much  as  in  England  and  the  United  States,  and  their 
quarrels  were  just  as  fierce.      The  part}'  in  power  is  always 


CANNIBAL    BLACKS.  135 

bitterly  denounced  by  the  party  out  of  power,  and  the  outs 
can  always  demonstrate  how  much  better  they  could  man- 
age public  affairs  than  the  ins  are  doing  it.  The  great 
questions  usually  before  the  people  are  the  tariff  and  public 
improvements,  and  the  fiercest  fights  are  usually  those  con- 
cerning the  tariff. 

Protectionists  and  free  traders  are  just  as  skillful  and 
just  as  earnest  as  the  same  parties  in  the  United  States,  and 
each  can  demonstrate  mathematically  how  much  better  its 
own  system  is  than  that  of  the  other  side.  The  colonies 
are  themselves  divided  on  the  subject  of  tariff,  all  of  them 
favoring  protection  with  the  exception  of  New  South 
Wales,  where  the  free  traders  are  in  the  majority. 

There  has  been  a  great  deal  of  talk  about  a  federation 
of  the  colonies,  but  the  stumbling-block  in  the  way  of  it 
is  the  difference  in  the  colonial  tariff.  Federation  would 
have  been  brought  about  years  ago  had  it  not  been  for 
New  South  Wales  and  its  free  trade  policy. 

Ned  and  Harry  started  to  take  some  notes  on  the  subject 
of  the  tariff,  but  the  doctor  reminded  them  that  they  had 
better  leave  the  subject  alone,  as  it  was  a  dangerous  one  to 
touch.  Consequently  they  have  not  given  us  the  benefit 
of  their  notes  upon  it,  and  we  are  unable  to  say  what  con- 
clusion they  reached. 

At  its  appointed  time  the  train  reached  Melbourne,  and 
our  friends  found  themselves  in  the  spacious  station  of  the 
railway  company. 

As  soon  as  they  could  get  their  baggage,  our  friends 
proceeded  to  a  hotel  which  had  been  recommended  to 
them,    and    which    they  found    quite    satisfactory.      After 


I36  THE  LAND  OF  THE  KANGAROO. 

securing  rooms  they  went  out  for  a  stroll,  having  been 
advised  to  take  a  promenade  along  Collins  Street.  Harry 
said  he  was  sure  that  the  street  had  been  named  after 
somebody  who  was  prominent  in  the  early  history  of  the 
colony,  at  least,  he  felt  that  such  was  the  case  if  Mel- 
bourne had  followed  the  example  of  Adelaide. 

"  Melbourne  was  founded  before  Adelaide  was,"  said 
Dr.  Whitney,  "  as  the  first  settlement  was  made  here  in 
1835,  a  year  before  the  first  settlement  was  made  in  Ade- 
laide ;  but,  all  the  same,  your  theory  is  correct.  Collins 
Street  was  named  after  Colonel  Collins,  who  established  a 
convict  settlement  in  this  vicinity  as  far  back  as  1803,  but 
for  some  reason  he  gave  it  up  a  year  or  two  later,  and 
transferred  his  convicts  and  their  guards  to  Tasmania." 

"  The  next  street  parallel  to  this,"  said  Ned,  "  is 
Bourke  Street.     I  wonder  who  Bourke  was?  " 

"  Bourke  was  the  governor  of  the  colony  in  1836,"  the 
doctor  replied,  "  and  that  is  why  he  was  honored  with  a 
street." 

"  We  know  about  Captain  Flinders,"  said  Harry,  "  after 
whom  Flinders  Street  was  named.  He  was  a  daring  ex- 
plorer who  accompanied  Captain  Bass  when  the  latter 
discovered  Bass's  Strait,  that  separates  Australia  from 
Tasmania.  There  is  also  a  range  of  mountains  named 
after  him." 

"  Captain  Lonsdale,  who  was  in  command  of  some  of 
the  troops  at  the  time  that  the  city  was  laid  out,"  said  the 
doctor,  "  was  honored  with  a  street,  and  Swanston  Street 
commemorates  one  of  the  early  settlers.  Then  there  are 
King    Street,    Queen    Street,    William    Street,    Elizabeth 


CANNIBAL    BLACKS.  137 

Street,    which    explain    themselves,    as    they  indicate   the 
feelings  of  the  early  settlers  towards  the  royal  family." 

"This  street  is  certainly  as  attractive  to  the  eye  as 
Broadway  or  Fifth  Avenue  in  New  York,"  Ned  remarked, 
as  they  strolled  slowly  along  Collins  Street.  "  See  these 
magnificent  buildings.  You  have  only  to  shut  your  eyes 
and  imagine  yourself  on  Broadway,  and  when  you  open 
them  again  the  illusion  does  not  require  a  great  stretch  of 
the  imagination.  And  all  this  has  grown  up  since  1835. 
Just  think  of  it '.  *' 

"  Yes,"  replied  the  doctor  ;  "it  was  about  the  middle  of 
1835  that  one  John  Batman  came  herewith  a  small  sailing 
vessel,  and  made  a  bargain  with  the  chief  of  the  tribe  of 
blacks  then  occupying  this  neighborhood,  by  which  he 
purchased  about  twelve  hundred  square  miles  of  ground 
for  a  quantity  of  goods  worth,  perhaps,  one  hundred 
dollars." 

"That  beats  the  purchase  of  Manhattan  Island  for 
twenty-four  dollars,"  remarked  Harry  as  the  doctor  paused. 

"Yes,  it  does,"  was  the  reply  :  "  the  government  after- 
wards repudiated  Batman's  trade,  and  took  possession  of 
the  ground  he  had  purchased." 

"A  pretty  mean  piece  of  business,  wasn't  it?"  queried 
Harry. 

"As  to  that,"  said  the  doctor,  "  there  are  arguments  on 
both  sides  of  the  question.  Batman  felt  that  he  had  been 
unfairly  dealt  with,  although  the  government  paid  him 
about  thirty-live  thousand  dollars  for  his  claim.  At  the 
time  they  paid  the  money  to  him  the  land  was  worth  very 
much  more  than  that  amount." 


I  38  THE    LAND    OF    THE    KANGAROO. 

"  Did  he  stay  here  and  go  to  building  a  city  at  once?  " 
queried  one  of  the  youths. 

"  No  ;  he  went  back  to  Tasmania,  whence  he  had  come, 
in  order  to  get  a  fresh  supply  of  provisions,  and  while  he 
was  gone  John  Fawkner  came  here  with  a  schooner  called 
the  Enterprise,  and  made  a  settlement.  His  party  con- 
sisted, if  we  may  include  the  quadrupeds,  of  five  men,  two 
pigs,  one  cat,  two  horses,  and  three  dogs.  When  Batman 
came  back  he  was  very  angry,  and  as  long  as  both  the  men 
lived  there  was  a  bitter  quarrel  between  them  which  threat- 
ened several  times  to  result  in  a  shooting  affray.  Batman 
died  in  1839  :  nis  hen's  anc*  partners  took  up  the  quar- 
rel, and  traces  of  it  are  said  to  exist  to  the  present  day. 
The  people  of  Melbourne  have  erected  a  monument  to 
Batman's  memory,  but  Fawkner  is  generally  regarded  as 
the  founder  of  Melbourne,  as  he  made  the  first  permanent 
settlement,  and  the  colony  may  properly  be  considered  to 
have  bermn  on  the  date  of  his  arrival." 

When  the  conversation  had  reached  this  point,  the  party 
found  themselves  at  the  corner  of  Elizabeth  Street,  which 
intersects  Collins  Street  at  right  angles. 

"  You  observe,"  said  the  doctor,  "  that  this  street,  Eliza- 
beth, is  the  dividing  line  of  the  city.  That  is  to  say, 
from  it  the  streets  are  called  east  and  west  just  as  they 
are  so  called  in  New  York.  At  Fifth  Avenue,  East 
Fortv-second  Street  and  West  Forty-second  Street  begin. 
In  the  same  way  we  have  here  Collins  Street,  East,  and 
Collins  Street,  West;  Bourke  Street,  East,  and  Bourke 
Street,  West;  and  so  on  through  the  whole  list.  They 
put  the  word  designating  the   point  of  compass  after  the 


CANNIBAL    BLACKS.  139 

name  of  the  street,  while  in   New  York  we   do  just  the 
opposite." 

"Oh,  yes,  I  see,"  Harry  remarked,  with  a  twinkle  in 
his  eve.  "Melbourne  is  on  the  other  side  of  the  world 
from  New  York,  and  so  they  name  the  streets  in  the  re- 
verse manner.  So,  then,  there  is  another  proof  that  Aus- 
tralia is  a  land  of  contradictions." 

Ned  laughed,  and  made  no  reply  other  than  to  ask  if 
the  great  number  of  deaths  that  occurred  here  during  the 
gold  excitement  had  any  allusion  to  the  name  of  the  city. 
Harry  looked  at  him  with  a  puzzled  expression,  and  asked 
what  he  meant. 

"  Why,  I  was  thinking,"  said  Ned,  "  that  possibly  Mel- 
bourne might  have  been  '  the  bourne  whence  no  traveler 
returns,'  mentioned  by  Shakespeare." 

"  Oh,  that  is  old,"  said  the  doctor;  "  and  while  you  are 
on  this  subject,  I  will  inform  you  that  the  city  obtained  its 
name  from  Lord  Melbourne,  who  was  Prime  Minister  of 
Great  Britain  at  the  time  that  the  place  was  laid  out.'' 

"  The  surveyor  who  laid  out  the  city,"  remarked  Harry, 
"had  a  'level'  head,  as  well  as  a  leveling  one.  See 
what  wide  streets  he  gave  it." 

"Yes,  that  is  so,"  replied  Ned.  "  They  must  be  one 
hundred  feet  wide,  at  least  that  is  what  I  would  guess." 

"You  guessed  very  closely,"  said  the  doctor,  "  as  they 
are  ninetv-nine  feet  (one  chain  and  a  half)  wide,  and  the 
tradition  is  that  Melbourne  was  laid  out  by  an  American 
surveyor.  The  city,  as  originally  planned,  was  one  mile 
square,  but  it  has  received  numerous  additions,  so  that  it 
now    covers    a   great    deal    more  than   a  square   mile.      It 


I^O  THE    LAND    OF    THE    KANGAROO. 

really  occupies,  with  its  suburbs,  an  area  of  nearly  one 
hundred  square  miles,  and  every  year  sees  a  new  suburb 
added.  Of  course,  when  population  is  mentioned,  the 
whole  of  the  suburbs  should  be  included,  and  the  inhabi- 
tants claim,  with  a  great  deal  of  reason,  that  within  a  radius 
of  ten  miles  from  the  city  hall,  there  are  fully  four  hun- 
dred thousand  people  residing." 

"That  is  certainly  a  very  rapid  growth,"  said  one  of 
the  youths.  "  All  that  population  since  1835!  It  is  the 
most  rapid  growth  of  any  city  that  I  know  of,   is  it  not?" 

"Yes,  I  think  it  is,"  replied  the  doctor.  "Neither 
San  Francisco  nor  Chicago  can  show  a  growth  equal  to 
that  of  Melbourne  in  the  first  fifty  years  of  its  existence. 
Chicago  is  now  a  much  larger  city,  but  fifty  years  from 
its  foundation  it  could  not  boast  of  as  many  inhabitants 
as  could  Melbourne  when  it  was  half  a  century  old." 

To  the  eyes  of  our  young  friends  Melbourne  presented  a 
very  busy  appearance.  Cabs  and  carriages  were  rushing 
hither  and  thither.  Crowds  of  people  were  on  the  side- 
walks, and  other  crowds  filled  the  tram-cars  and  omni- 
buses. Harry  observed  that  Melbourne  was  sufficiently 
up  with  the  times  to  be  provided  with  electric  cars,  and 
that  she  also  had  cable  lines,  as  well  as  the  more  primitive 
street  cars.  It  was  near  the  close  of  the  afternoon,  when 
the  oreat  majority  of  the  population  are  seeking  their 
homes,  and  the  scene  of  busy  life  reminded  the  youths  of 
lower  Broadway,  near  the  end  of  the  day  in  New  York. 

The  doctor  explained  that  a  very  large  part  of  the 
working  population  resembled  the  well-to-do  portion,  by 
having  their  homes  in  the  suburbs,  and,  consequently,  that 


CANNIBAL    BLACKS.  I-fl 

a  great  many  people  required  transportation.  Hence  the 
rush  for  the  tram-cars  and  other  public  means  of  travel 
on  the  part  of  the  great  mass  of  the  public,  while  those 
with  better-lined  purses  patronized  the  cabs  and  carriages. 
Cab  fares  are  high,  being  about  one  third  more  than  in 
London,  but  not  so  high  as  in  New  York.  In  the  days 
of  the  gold  rush  the  most  ordinary  carriages  could  not  be 
hired  for  less  than  fifteen  dollars  a  day,  and  five  dollars 
was  the  price  for  an  hour  or  two. 

There  is  a  story  in  circulation  that  a  gold  miner  was 
once  bargaining  for  a  carriage  for  which  the  driver  de- 
manded twelve  pounds  (sixty  dollars)  for  a  day's  hire. 
The  miner  said  he  would  not  pay  it :  he  handed  a  ten- 
pound  note  to  the  driver,  and  said  he  must  be  satisfied 
with  that.  The  driver  assented,  and  there  was  no  further 
discussion  on  the  subject. 

Prices  of  all  sorts  of  things  throughout  Melbourne  are 
somewhat  above  London  figures,  but  they  have  been  es- 
tablished a  long  time  and  nobody  complains  of  them. 

Our  friends  continued  their  walk  to  the  Yarra  River, 
up  whose  waters  Batman  and  Fawkner  sailed  when  they 
came  here  to  found  the  city.  Its  native  name  is  Yarra- 
Yarra,  but  the  double  word  is  rarely  used  by  the  inhabi- 
tants of  Melbourne  in  speaking  of  the  stream.  Of  itself, 
it  is  not  a  river  of  much  consequence,  as  originally  all  but 
very  small  vessels  had  difficulty  in  ascending  it.  It  has 
been  dredged  and  deepened,  so  that  craft  drawing  not 
more  than  sixteen  feet  of  water  can  ascend  it  to  Prince  S 
Bridge,  the  spot  where  our  friends  reached  the  stream. 
Vessels    requiring  more  water  than  that   must  remain  at 


I42 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  KANGAROO. 


Fort  Melbourne,  about  three  miles  further  down.  There 
are  several  other  bridges  crossing  the  river  at  different 
points.  Near  Prince's  Bridge  our  friends  saw  several 
passenger  steamers  crowded  with  people,  on  their  way  to 
their  homes  down  the  bay. 

On  their  return  towards  the  hotel  our  friends  loitered 
among  the  shops,  and  especially  among  those  in  what  are 
called  the  Arcades,  of  which  there  are  four,  modeled  after 
the  Arcades  of  London  and  the  "Passages"  of  Paris. 
They  are  delightful  places  to  lounge  in,  whether  one  is  in 
search  of  purchases  or  not,  and  the  three  strangers  were  in 
no  hurry  to  get  through  them. 

One  of  the  arcades  is  known  as  the  Book  Arcade,  and 
the  shops  inside  of  it  are  almost  wholly  devoted  to  the  sale 
of  books.  Harry  remarked  that  he  judged  the  Melbourne 
people  to  be  a  reading  one,  otherwise  there  would  not  be 
so  much  space  devoted  to  the  sale  of  books.  The  youths 
had  a  brief  conversation  with  one  of  the  proprietors,  who 
told  them  that  it  was  one  of  the  largest  book  stores  in  the 
world,  in  fact,  he  did  not  know  of  any  other  as  large  as 
that.  "  We  can  give  you  anything  you  want,"  said  he; 
"  everything  is  so  arranged  that  we  know  just  where  to  lay 
our  hands  on  any  book  that  a  customer  wants." 

Melbourne  is  a  great  source  of  supply  for  all  the  interior 
of  Victoria.  In  the  wholesale  shops  there  were  great 
quantities  of  goods  intended  for  up-country  use.  "  There 
were,"  said  Harry,  "  tons  and  tons  of  clothing  destined  for 
the  mines  or  for  sheep  and  cattle  runs,  and  great  quantities 
of  tea,  sugar,  and  other  provisions,  together  with  saddlery, 
harnesses,  and  ironmongery  in  great  quantity  and  variety." 


CANNIBAL    BLACKS.  J43 

"We  observed,"  wrote  Ned,  "that  between  every  two 
wide  streets  there  is  a  narrow  street  running  in  the  same 
direction.  I  believe  you  will  find  the  same  arrangement 
in  many  parts  of  Philadelphia,  and  also  in  the  new  part  of 
Boston.  The  original  intention  of  the  surveyor  was  that 
these  small  streets  should  be  used  as  back  entrances  for 
the  buildings  on  the  larger  ones,  but  this  intention  has  not 
been  carried  out  in  the  development  of  the  city.  Formerly 
these  narrow  streets  took  the  name  of  the  wide  ones,  with 
the  prefix  '  Little  ' ;  for  example,  the  one  between  Collins 
and  Bourke  Street  being  known  as  Little  Collins  Street. 
Most  of  them  are  now  called  lanes,  and  are  spoken  of  as 
Collins  Lane,  Latrobe  Lane,  and  the  like,  and  many  of 
them  are  devoted  to  special  lines  of  trade.  Flinders  Lane, 
between  Flinders  and  Collins  Streets,  is  the  principal  local- 
ity of  the  wholesale  dealers  in  clothing,  and  Bourke  Lane 
is  largely  occupied  by  Chinese.  We  are  told  that  the 
renting  prices  of  stores  along  these  lanes  are  very  high, 
probably  greater  than  either  Batman  or  Fawkner  ever 
dreamed  they  could  be  in  their  wildest  moments. 

"  When  we  returned  to  the  hotel  we  found  an  invitation 
for  us  to  dine  atone  of  the  clubs,  the  gentleman  who  gave 
the  invitation  having  called  during  our  absence.  A\  e 
dressed  as  quickly  as  possible,  and  went  at  once  to  the 
club  house,  where  we  dined  on  the  best  that  the  city 
afforded.  Melbourne  is  a  great  place  for  clubs,  quite  as 
much  so  as  London  or  New  York.  Nearly  everybody 
belongs  to  a  club,  and  many  gentleman  have  two,  three,  or 
more  clubs  on  their  lists.  Nearly  all  of  the  clubs  have 
lodging   rooms  for  bachelor  members,  and  the  popularity 


144  TIIE    LAND    OF    TIIK    KANGAROO. 

of  the  institution  is  shown  by  the  fact  that  most  of  these 
rooms  are  constantly  occupied. 

"  Life  at  a  club  is  somewhat  expensive,  though  less  so 
than  at  a  first-class  hotel.  One  gentleman  probably  stated 
the  case  very  clearly  when  he  said  that  life  in  a  club  house 
is  pretty  much  as  each  individual  chooses  to  make  it. 
He  could  live  economically  or  expensively,  according  to 
his  preference.  He  could  dine  on  the  choicest  or  on  the 
plainest  food,  and  could  entertain  liberally  or  frugally. 
'  There  is  no  necessity,'  he  added,  '  for  a  man  to  waste  his 
money  because  he  lives  at  a  club,  but  there  is  no  denying 
the  fact  that  a  club  affords  temptation  and  opportunity  to 
do  so.' 

"  During  dinner  the  subject  of  horse  racing  came  up,  and 
our  host  said  that  he  did  not  believe  there  was  any  city  in 
the  world  where  so  large  a  proportion  of  the  population 
wras  interested  in  equine  sports  as  Melbourne.  '  On  Cup 
Day,'  said  he,  '  that  is,  on  the  day  of  the  annual  race  for 
the  cup  which  is  given  by  the  city  of  Melbourne,  people 
come  here  from  all  parts  of  Australia. 

"  '  Everybody  who  can  afford  the  time  and  expense  is 
reasonably  sure  to  visit  Melbourne,  and  a  great  many  come 
here  who  can  hardly  afford  to  do  so.  Hotels  and  lodging 
houses  are  crowded  to  their  fullest  capacities  for  several 
days  before  the  great  event.  When  Cup  Day  comes,  it  is 
like  the  Derby  Day  in  England.  Half  the  population  of 
Melbourne  goes  to  Flemington,  when  the  race  is  run,  and 
nearly  all  the  scenes  of  the  great  Derby  Day  in  England 
are  repeated.  The  winner  of  the  Melbourne  cup  is  greeted 
with  the  heartiest  cheers  at  the  close  of  the  race,  and  if  he 


CANNIBAL    BLACKS.  145 

is  put  up  for  sale  on  the  spot,  he  is  .sure  to  bring  an  enor- 
mous price.' 

"  '  I  asked  if  the  horses  competing  for  the  cup  were 
limited  to  those  raised  in  the  colony  of  Victoria?' 

"'Oh,  not  by  any  means,'  the  gentleman  answered; 
'  horses  from  any  of  the  colonies  can  be  entered  for  the 
great  race.  They  come  from  New  South  Wales,  South 
and  West  Australia,  and  also  from  Queensland,  and  some- 
times we  have  them  from  New  Zealand  or  Tasmania.  In 
some  years  it  has  happened  that  not  one  of  the  racers  was 
bred  in  the  colony  of  Victoria.  There  is  never  any  lack 
of  competitors,  their  number  being  usually  quite  equal  to 
that  in  the  race  for  the  Derby.  The  race  track  is  a  little 
more  than  a  mile  from  the  center  of  the  city,  so  that  the 
public  has  not  far  to  go.  Vehicles  of  every  kind  com- 
mand high  prices  on  Cup  Day,  and  many  thousands  of 
people  go  to  the  race  on  foot.  For  weeks  before  the 
event  little  else  is  talked  of,  and  the  great  question  on 
every  tongue  is,  "  What  horse  will  win  the  cup?" 

"Melbourne  is  very  fond  of  athletic  sports,  and  there 
are  numerous  clubs  devoted  to  baseball,  football,  cricket, 
golf,  and  the  like.  There  are  also  rowing  clubs,  and 
their  favorite  rowing  place  is  along  the  part  of  the  Yarra 
above  Prince's  Bridge.  The  course  is  somewhat  crooked, 
but  there  is  a  good  view  of  it  from  the  banks,  and  a  row- 
ing match  between  two  of  the  crack  clubs  is  sure  to 
attract  a  large  crowd." 


CHAPTER   IX. 

"THE    LAUGHING    JACKASS  " AUSTRALIAN     SNAKES     AND 

SNAKE    STORIES. 

OUR  friends  returned  to  their  hotel,  but,  before  leaving 
them,   their  host    arranged  to  call  for  them   after 
breakfast  the  next  morning,  for  a  drive  among  the 
parks  and  around  the  suburbs  of  the  city. 

The  drive  came  off  as  agreed  upon,  and  a  very  pleas- 
ant one  it  was.  They  visited  the  Botanic  Garden,  which 
is  on  the  banks  of  the  Yarra,  and  seemed  to  contain 
specimens  of  nearly  all  the  trees  on  the  habitable  globe. 
Harry  said  he  wondered  how  elms  and  oaks  could  have 
attained  the  size  of  some  that  he  saw,  when  he  remem- 
bered that  the  city  had  its  beginning  in  1835.  It  was 
explained  that  all  exotic  trees  grew  with  great  rapidity  in 
the  climate  of  Melbourne,  and  not  only  exotics  but  natives. 
The  climate  seems  adapted  to  almost  any  kind  of  vegeta- 
ble production. 

Our  friends  found  cork  trees  and  palms  growing  almost 
side  by  side  with  the  birch,  the  pine,  and  the  spruce. 
Among  other  things,  their  attention  was  attracted  to  some 
beautiful  fern  trees,  which  were  fully  twenty  feet  high, 
and  there  were  climbing  plants  in  great  profusion,  some 
of  them  clinging  to  the  trees,  and  others  fastened  to  trel- 
lis  work. 

Almost  every  kind  of  tropical  fruit  tree  was  represented 

146 


A  VISIT  TO  THE  ZOOLOGICAL  GARDEN. 


"  THE    LAUGHING   JACKASS."  I47 

in  the  garden,  and  the  gentleman  who  led  the  party  said 
that  the  garden  had  been  of  great  use  in  distributing 
exotic  fruit  trees  through  the  colony,  after  first  settling  the 
question  whether  they  would  exist  in  the  climate  of  Vic- 
toria. Every  variety  of  orange  was  there,  and  the  orange 
is  among  the  most  abundant  of  the  fruits  growing  in  the 
colony.  Apricots,  peaches,  pears,  mangosteens,  the  cus- 
tard apple,  mangoes,  and  other  fruits  have  found  a  home 
in  Victoria,  and  demonstrated  that  they  can  exist  within 
its  limits. 

"We  were  unwilling,"  said  Harry  in  his  journal,  "to 
leave  the  Botanic  Garden  and  go  elsewhere,  as  there  were 
so  many  attractive  things  to  be  seen,  but  time  pressed, 
and  whenever  our  host  gave  the  word  we  proceeded  with 
him.  From  the  Botanic  Garden  we  went  to  the  Fitzroy 
Gardens,  which  are  situated  in  the  eastern  part  of  the 
town,  and  were  to  some  extent  a  repetition  of  the  Botanic 
Garden,  though  not  entirely  so.  The  Fitzroy  is  more 
like  a  park  than  a  garden;  it  is  beautifully  laid  out 
with  walks  and  drives,  and  is  rendered  picturesque  by 
means  of  rocky  hills,  miniature  Jakes,  and  occasional 
fountains. 

"  We  afterwards  went  to  the  Carlton  Gardens  and  also 
to  the  Zoological  Garden,  the  latter  being  situated  in  the 
Royal  Park.  The  '  Zoo,'  as  it  is  popularly  called,  con- 
tains a  tine  collection  of  animals  from  all  parts  of  the 
world,  including  elephants,  lions,  tigers,  and  the  like, 
and  also  specimens  of  the  animals  of  Australia.  Of 
course  it  has  a  cage  full  of  monkeys, —  what  Zoo  is  ever 
without  them?  —  and  they  look  just  exactly  like  the  col- 


I/j.8  THE    LAND    OF    THE    KANGAROO. 

lections  of   monkeys   that   we   have   elsewhere   in  various 
parts  of  the  world. 

"There  is  a  very  fair  collection  of  birds,  and  we  were 
particularly  interested  in  the  specimens  of  the  birds  of 
Australia.  And  that  reminds  me  of  an  amusing  experi- 
ence, as  we  came  around  to  where  the  aviary  stands. 

"  We  heard  somebody  laughing  very  loudly,  and  a 
queer  sort  of  a  laugh  it  was.  Ned  remarked  that  some- 
body must  be  feeling  very  happy,  and  I  agreed  with  him. 
Our  host  smiled,  and  so  did  Dr.  Whitney,  but  nothing 
further  was  said,  as  the  laugh  died  away. 

"  When  we  got  close  to  the  door  we  again  heard  the 
laugh,  which  came  from  the  inside  of  the  bird  house. 

"  'The  fellow  is  at  it  again,'  said  Ned.  'Wonder  if 
we  can't  share  in  the  fun?  ' 

"  I  said  that  I  hoped  so,  as  I  had  not  seen  anything  to 
laugh  at  since  we  started  out  from  the  hotel.  When  we 
got  inside  we  looked  around  for  the  man  who  had  been 
making  the  noise,  but  there  was  nobody  visible  except  a 
very  solemn-faced  keeper,  who  did  not  look  as  if  he  had 
laughed  for  a  month.    . 

"  I  remarked  to  Ned  that  the  old  fellow  had  put  on 
a  serious  face  now  because  company  had  come  in,  to 
which  Ned  nodded  assent.  Just  as  he  did  so  the  laugh- 
ing began  again,  and  it  was  such  a  funny  laugh  that 
both  of  us  joined  in  it. 

"The  old  fellow's  face  did  not  move  a  muscle,  and  we 
saw  that  he  was  not  the  humorous  one  of  the  place.  We 
looked  in  the  direction  of  the  laughter  and  saw  that  it 
came,  not  from  a  man,  but  from  a  bird.      In  spite  of  our 


"  THE    LAUGHING    JACKASS.  149 

astonishment  we  burst  out  laughing,  and  the  doctor  and 
our  host  joined  us  in  doing  so. 

"  Our  host  then  explained  that  the  bird  which  was 
amusing  us  was  known  as  the  '  laughing  jackass.'  We 
had  heard  of  the  creature  before,  but  this  was  our  first 
view  of  him.  We  took  a  good  look,  and  while  we  were 
doing  so  he  laughed  again,  right  in  our  faces.  The 
laugh  is  almost  exactly  like  that  of  a  human  being.  It 
is  not  musical  but  is  very  comical,  and,  somehow,  it  has 
a  tendency  to  set  everybody  laughing  who  is  within  sound 
of  it. 

"  The  bird  is  about  the  size  of  a  full-grown  pigeon, 
perhaps  a  little  larger.  He  is  not  handsomely  propor- 
tioned, his  head  being  too  large  for  his  body  and  his  tail 
very  small.  His  feathers  are  white  and  black,  and  he 
has  a  comical  appearance  that  harmonizes  well  with  his 
humorous  manner.  He  is  easily  domesticated,  and  will 
learn  to  talk  quite  as  readily  as  the  parrot  does. 

"The  laughing  jackass  is  a  friend  of  the  bushman,  as 
he  foretells  wet  weather.  When  the  air  is  dry  and  clear, 
he  is  a  very  lively  bird,  and  fills  the  air  with  the  sound 
of  his  laughter ;  but  if  rain  is  coming,  or  especially  if 
it  has  come,  he  is  the  very  picture  of  misery  and  un- 
happiness.  He  mopes  on  his  perch,  whether  it  be  in  a 
cage,  or  on  the  limb  of  a  tree,  or  in  the  open  air,  with  his 
feathers  ruffled,  and  a  very  bedraggled  appearance,  like 
a  hen  that  has  been  caught  in  a  shower.  In  the  forest 
he  will  imitate  the  sound  of  an  axe  cutting  at  a  tree,  and 
many  a  man  has  been  deceived  into  walking  a  mile  or 
more  in  the  expectation  of  finding  somebody  at  work. 


I50  THE    LAND    OF    THE    KANGAROO. 

"The  bird  belongs  to  the  kingfisher  family,  but  does 
not  hunt  much  for  fishes,  his  favorite  food  being  snakes. 
It  makes  no  difference  to  him  whether  the  snakes  are 
poisonous  or  not,  as  his  attacks  upon  them  are  limited 
only  by  their  size.  Large  snakes  he  cannot  handle,  but 
small  ones  are  his  delight.  He  drops  down  upon  them 
with  the  quickness  of  a  flash,  seizes  them  just  back  of 
the  head,  and  then  flies  up  in  the  air  a  hundred  feet  to 
drop  them  upon  the  hardest  piece  of  ground  he  can  find. 

"The  fall  breaks  their  backs,  and  he  keeps  up  this 
performance  until  life  is  extinct,  when  he  devours  his 
prey.  His  services  as  a  snake-killer  are  known  all  over 
the  country,  and  consequently  he  is  never  shot  or  trapped. 
He  is  intelligent  enough  to  understand  his  immunity  from 
attack,  and  comes  fearlessly  about  the  houses  of  the  peo- 
ple in  the  country  districts. 

"  Speaking  of  snakes  reminds  me  that  they  have  a 
very  good  collection  in  the  Zoo.  We  asked  the  keeper 
to  indicate  to  us  the  snakes  peculiar  to  Australia,  and  he 
did  so.  The  largest  of  them  is  known  as  the  carpet 
snake,  and  the  specimen  that  we  saw  was  about  ten  feet 
long.  It  belongs  to  the  constrictor  family,  being  perfectly 
harmless  so  far  as  its  bite  is  concerned,  but  it  has  powers 
of  constriction  that  might  be  very  serious  to  the  person 
around  whom  the  creature  has  wound  itself.  One  trav- 
eler in  Australia  tells  how  he  was  visiting  a  cattle  station 
in  Queensland,  and  when  he  went  to  bed  the  first  night 
of  his  stay,  he  found  a  carpet  snake  lying  on  the  outside 
of  his  couch.  He  called  loudly  for  some  one  to  come 
and  kill  the  serpent. 


"  THE    LAUGHING   JACKASS.  151 

"  His  call  was  heard  by  the  proprietor,  who  shouted  to 
him  not  to  kill  the  snake,  as  it  was  one  of  the  family  pets, 
and  then  the  man  came  and  seized  the  creature  by  the 
neck  and  carried  it  to  a  barrel  where  he  said  the  snake 
belonged.  I  hope  they  won't  have  any  pets  of  that  sort 
around  any  house  that  I  visit  during  my  stay  in  Australia. 

"There  are  eighty-three  distinct  species  of  snakes 
peculiar  to  Australia,  of  which  sixty  are  venomous,  and 
fifteen  amphibious.  The  most  common  of  the  deadly  ser- 
pents are  the  death  adder,  black  snake,  brown  snake, 
tiger  snake,  and  diamond  snake.  The  latter  is  so  called 
on  account  of  the  color  of  his  skin,  which  is  laid  out  in 
lozenges  of  a  diamond  shape,  alternately  brown  and 
white.  The  death  adder,  so  the  keeper  told  us,  is  the 
most  dangerous  of  all  the  Australian  snakes,  as  it  never 
tries  to  escape.  It  lies  perfectly  still  when  approached, 
but  the  instant  one  touches  it,  it  darts  its  head  and  delivers, 
if  possible,  a  fatal  bite.  The  poison  speedily  accomplishes 
its  purpose,  and  unless  an  antidote  can  be  had  in  a  few- 
minutes  death  is  the  inevitable  result. 

"  People  who  go  about  much  in  the  region  where  this 
snake  abounds  wear  high-top  boots  as  a  protection  against 
these  serpents.  The  black  snake  and  the  brown  snake 
are  the  most  common  of  the  deadly  serpents.  The  brown 
one  is  the  largest  of  them,  and  frequently  attains  a  length 
of  eight  or  nine  feet.  The  tiger  snake  seems  to  be  related 
to  the  'Cobra-di-Cafcllo;  of  India,  as  it  has  the  same 
power  of  flattening  and  extending  its  neck  when  irritated. 

"  I  asked  what  were  the  antidotes  used  for  snake  bites 
in  Australia? 


152 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  KANGAROO. 


"To  this  our  host  replied  that  there  were  various  ways 
of  counteracting  the  effects  of  a  snake  bite.  One  was  to 
cut  out  the  wound  and  take  away  the  flesh  from  each  side 
of  it  for  half  an  inch  or  so.  Another  was  to  swallow 
large  quantities  of  brandy  and  whiskey,  and  the  third  and 
most  common  way  was  to  use  a  hypodemic  injection  of 
ammonia.  The  last-named  antidote  is  regarded  as  almost 
certain,  and  a  great  many  people,  such  as  stock-men, 
wood-cutters,  farmers,  and  the  like,  carry  in  their  pockets 
a  hypodermic  syringe,  charged  and  ready  for  use. 

"  '  On  that  subject  I  can  tell  you  an  interesting  story,' 
said  our  host.  '  There  was  at  one  time  a  man  named 
Underwood,  who  discovered  a  positive  antidote  for  the 
bite  of  the  most  venomous  serpent.  He  gave  several 
exhibitions  in  which  he  permitted  himself  to  be  bitten  by 
snakes  in  full  possession  of  all  their  venomous  powers,  a 
fact  which  was  established  by  the  immediate  deaths  of 
dogs,  chickens,  and  other  small  animals,  which  were 
bitten  by  the  snakes  after  they  had  tried  their  fangs  on 
Underwood.  He  carried  a  supply  of  his  antidote  about 
him,  and  used  it  whenever  he  was  thus  bitten. 

"'Underwood's  remedy  was  a  secret  known  only  to 
himself.  He  was  trying  to  sell  it  to  the  government,  the 
latter  intending  to  make  it  public  for  the  sake  of  saving 
life.  One  day  Underwood  gave  an  exhibition  in  which  he 
allowed  himself,  as  usual,  to  be  bitten  by  a  venomous 
snake.  He  was  intoxicated  at  the  time,  and  in  conse- 
quence of  his  intoxication  was  unable  to  find  his  antidote  ; 
the  result  was  that  he  died  within  an  hour,  and  carried 
away  the  secret  of  his  antidote  forever.' 


"  THE    LAUGHING    JACKASS."  153 

"Newly  arrived  emigrants  in  Australia  have  a  great 
fear  of  snakes.  For  the  first  lew  weeks  they  are  startled 
whenever  they  hear  the  least  rustling  in  the  bushes,  but 
after  a  time  they  get  accustomed  to  it,  and  think  no  more 
about  snakes  than  they  do  about  dragons.  It  makes  a 
great  difference  in  what  part  of  Australia  you  are.  There 
are  some  regions  where  the  snake  is  rarely  seen,  while  in 
others  great  precautions  are  necessary.  Low,  swampy  dis- 
tricts are  said  to  be  the  worst,  and  men  who  walk  around 
in  such  localities  are  very  careful  of  their  steps. 

"  Some  of  the  snakes  of  Australia  have  an  unpleasant 
habit  of  coming  around  the  houses,  and  this  is  particularly 
the  case  with  the  tiger  snake,  which  in  this  respect  seems 
to  possess  the  same  characteristics  as  his  relative  the 
'  cobra,'  of  India.  Our  host  told  us  a  story  which  he  said 
he  knew  to  be  a  true  one,  the  incident  having  occurred 
in  a  family  with  which  he  was  acquainted.  There  was  an 
invalid  daughter  in  the  family,  and  one  afternoon,  when 
she  was  sleeping  in  a  hammock  on  the  veranda,  she  sud- 
denly waked  with  the  feeling  of  something  cold,  and 
moist,  and  heavy  near  her  neck.  She  raised  her  hand 
and  happened  to  grasp  the  neck  of  a  snake  just  back  of 
the  head.  In  her  paroxysm  of  terror,  she  clutched  it  with 
terrific  force  to  tear  it  away. 

"She  gave  a  piercing  cry  that  summoned  her  father 
and  other  members  of  the  family,  and  immediately  after 
the  cry  she  fainted.  But  she  still  continued  to  clutch  at 
the  snake's  neck,  and  although  she  was  utterly  uncon- 
scious of  anything  surrounding  her,  she  grasped  it  with 
such  force  that  the  reptile  was  fairly  strangled  by  her  fin- 


154  TllE    LAND    OF    THE    KANGAROO. 

gers.  Her  father  realized  that  it  would  be  impossible  to 
free  her  hand  until  consciousness  returned,  and  the  indi- 
cations were  that  it  would  not  be  speedy  in  coming.  So 
they  released  her  fingers  one  by  one,  with  a  piece  of  the 
hammock  cord,  and  removed  the  dead  body  of  the  snake 
so  that  it  should  be  out  of  sight  when  she  revived. 
Luckily,  the  creature  had  not  bitten  her  before  she  grasped 
it. 

"It  is  not  at  all  unusual  for  a  man  sleeping  on  the 
ground  at  night  to  find,  on  waking,  that  a  serpent  has 
crawled  in  by  his  side,  or  curled  itself  up  on  his  breast  for 
the  sake  of  the  warmth  that  his  body  supplies.  I  have 
heard  a  story  of  a  man  who  thus  entertained  an  unwelcome 
visitor.  He  waked  during  the  night  while  lying  flat  on 
his  back,  and  felt  something  heavy  and  cold  on  his  chest. 
He  moved  a  little  as  he  waked,  and  his  movement  caused 
the  snake  that  was  lying  on  him  to  raise  its  head.  By  the 
light  of  the  camp  fire  the  man  saw  his  predicament.  His 
hair  stood  on  end,  and  he  could  feel  the  blood  stiffening  in 
his  veins.  He  knew  it  would  be  some  time  before  day- 
light, and  felt  that  he  would  lose  his  mind  before  morning, 
or  perhaps  die  of  fear.  He  carried  a  knife  in  his  belt, 
and  decided,  after  careful  consideration,  that  his  best  plan 
was  to  reach  for  the  weapon  and  kill  the  snake  where  it  lay. 
'"  Slowly,  very  slowly,  he  worked  his  hand  to  his  waist 
and  drew  his  knife.  He  could  not  avoid  making  some 
movement  in  doing  so,  and  at  each  movement  the  snake 
raised  its  head  to  ascertain  the  cause  of  the  disturbance  ; 
then  the  man  became  perfectly  still  until  the  reptile  sub- 
sided asiain. 


"  THE    LAUGHING    JACKASS.  155 

"  After  the  lapse  of  what  seemed  to  be  many  hours,  the 
man  got  his  knife  and  arm  in  readiness  for  action.  Then 
he  moved  his  body  a  little,  causing  the  serpent  to  lift  its 
head  once  more.  As  it  did  so,  the  man  made  a  quick 
movement  of  his  hand,  and  he  declares  that  he  never 
made  a  quicker  one  in  all  his  life.  The  snake's  head 
was  severed  by  the  blow;  it  fell  to  one  side  and  the 
writhing  body  of  the  creature  followed  it.  At  the  same 
instant  the  man  was  on  his  feet,  and  he  says  that  he 
danced  for  a  few  minutes  in  a  wild  paroxysm  of  joy,  and 
then  fell  to  the  ground  in  a  fainting  fit,  caused  by  the 
sudden  reaction  in  his  feelings.  The  snake  that  he 
killed  was  of  a  poisonous  kind, —  the  tiger  snake,  which 
has  already  been  mentioned.  When  stretched  out  to  its 
full  length,  it  measured  very  nearly  five  feet. 

"They  have  scorpions  and  centipedes  in  Australia,  and 
their  bite  is  just  as  deadly  as  that  of  the  same  creatures 
elsewhere.  They  have  a  black  spider  about  as  large  as  a 
pea? — black  all  over  except  a  red  spot  on  its  back, — which 
is  found  in  decaying  logs,  and,  unhappily,  has  a  fond- 
ness for  living  in  houses.  It  is  aggressive  in  its  nature, 
as  it  does  not  wait  to  be  disturbed  before  making  an 
attack,  and  it  has  been  known  to  cross  a  room  towards 
where  a  person  was  sitting  in  order  to  bite  him.  Its  bite 
is  as  bad  as  that  of  the  scorpion  or  centipede.  Sometimes 
its  victims  are  permanently  paralyzed  for  the  rest  of  their 
lives,  or  become  hopeless  lunatics,  and,  not  infrequently, 
death  results  from  this  spider's  bite. 

"  One  gentleman  told  me  how  he  was  once  bitten  by 
one  of  these  spiders  on  the  calf  of  the  leg.      He   immedi- 


IC6  THE  LAND  OF  THE  KANGAROO. 

ately  cut  out  the  wound  and  injected  some  ammonia  close 
by  the  side  of  it,  but  in  spite  of  these  precautions  he  suf- 
fered intense  pains  in  the  leg  for  several  days.  The 
limb  swelled  to  twice  its  natural  size,  and  became  as  soft 
as  putty.  At  the  spot  where  the  wound  was  a  suppurat- 
ing sore  formed  and  it  discharged  for  several  months. 
He  fully  expected  that  amputation  would  be  necessary, 
and  the  doctor  whom  he  called  to  attend  him  said  the 
chances  were  five  to  one  that  he  would  lose  the  leg 
altogether.  Greatly  to  his  and  the  doctor's  surprise  and 
delight,  he  managed  to  save  it,  but  for  fully  a  year  after 
the  wound  had  healed  the  limb  did  not  resume  its  normal 
size,  and  he  suffered  frequent  pains  like  rheumatism. 

"'You  will  naturally  conclude,'  said  our  friend,  'that 
as  we  have  spiders  here  we  ought  to  have  flies,  and  we 
have  them  in  sufficient  abundance  to  prevent  life  from 
becoming  monotonous.  They  are  worse  in  the  interior 
than  on  the  coast ;  in  the  latter  region  they  are  only 
troublesome  during  the  autumn  months,  while  for  the 
rest  of  the  year  they  are  not  at  all  numerous,  or  may  be 
absent  altogether;  but  in  the  interior  they  are  always  bad, 
the  only  difference  being  that  they  are  worse  at  some 
times  than  at  others.  In  parts  of  the  interior  everybody 
wears  a  veil  when  going  about  the  country,  and  it  is  often 
necessary  to  do  so  while  in  the  house.  On  some  of  the 
interior  plains  you  can  see  a  man  before  you  see  him, 
as  an  Irishman  might  put  it.  You  see  in  the  distance 
a  small  black  cloud  hovering  just  over  the  road.  It  is  a 
cloud  of  flies  around  the  head  of  some  unfortunate  traveler, 
who    is   approaching   on  horseback.      They  stick  to   him 


"  THE    LAUGHING   JACKASS."  157 

like  a  troubled  conscience  and  go  with  him  wherever  he 
goes.  If  another  traveler  happens  to  be  going  in  the 
opposite  direction,  the  clouds  about  their  heads  mingle  as 
the  individuals  meet,  and  when  they  separate  the  flies 
move  on  with  them,  as  before.' 

"Flies  in  the  houses  are  very  troublesome,  as  they  are 
fond  of  loitering  about  the  table,  just  like  flies  in  America 
and  other  countries.  They  are  a  nuisance  to  which 
nobody  ever  gets  accustomed,  and  in  some  localities  they 
almost  render  the  country  uninhabitable.  Mosquitoes 
abound  in  most  parts  of  the  country,  especially  along  the 
rivers  and  lakes  and  in  swampy  regions,  and  even'  traveler 
who  expects  to  be  out  at  night  carries  a  mosquito  net  with 
him." 

From  the  Zoo  our  friends  continued  their  drive  through 
other  parks  and  along  some  of  the  principal  streets,  pass- 
ing several  public  buildings,  all  of  which  were  spacious 
and  attractive.  The  town  hall,  post-office,  government 
house,  and  other  public  structures  of  Melbourne  would  do 
honor  to  any  city  and  evince  the  taste  and  good  judgment 
of  those  who  planned  and  erected  them.  The  numerous 
parks  and  gardens  are  a  great  ornament  to  the  city  and 
give  an  abundance  of  breathing  space  for  the  people. 
Our  young  friends  were  loud  in  their  praise  of  what  they 
saw,  and  their  comments  were  well  received  by  their  host. 
The  people  of  Melbourne  are  fond  of  hearing  their  city 
commended,  and  their  pride  in  it  is  certainly  well  justified. 


CHAPTER  X. 

THE      HARBOR      OF      MELBOURNE CONVICT      HULKS      AND 

BUSHRANGERS. 

IN  the  afternoon  the  party  visited  Port  Melbourne,  for- 
merly known  as  Sandridge.  Properly  speaking,  this  is 
the  harbor  of  Melbourne,  and  it  is  situated  near  the  mouth 
of  the  Yarra,  where  that  stream  enters  Hobson's  Bay,  the 
latter  being  an  arm  of  Port  Philip  Bay.  It  is  a  busy  place 
and  contains  the  usual  sights  of  a  harbor.  Ships  were 
discharging  or  receiving  their  cargoes,  some  at  the  piers 
which  jut  out  into  the  water,  while  some  were  anchored 
away  from  the  shore  and  were  performing  the  same  work 
by  means  of  lighters.  On  the  other  side  of  Hobson's  Bay 
is  Williamstown,  which  is  a  sort  of  rival  of  Sandridge.  A 
great  deal  of  shipping  business  is  done  there,  and  Wil- 
liamstown contains,  also,  graving  docks  and  building 
yards  where  many  vessels  engaged  in  local  trade  along 
the  coast  have  been  constructed.  The  gentleman  who 
accompanied  our  friends  called  their  attention  to  the  rail- 
ways which  connect  Williamstown  and  Sandridge  with  the 
city,  and  remarked  that  times  had  changed  since  the  gold 
rush  in  the  early  fifties. 

"  At  the  present  time,"  said  he,  "you  can  go  between 
Sandridge  and  Melbourne  for  threepence  or  sixpence, 
according  to  the  class  you  select,  but  in  the  time  of  the 
gold  rush  prices  were  very  much  higher.      If  you  wanted 


THE    HARBOR    OF    MELBOURNE.  1 59 

a  carriage  from  here  to  the  city,  you  would  be  lucky  to 
escape  for  a  sovereign,  and  a  dray  load  of  baggage  drawn 
by  a  single  horse  would  cost  fifteen  dollars.  There  used 
to  be  an  omnibus  line  that  carried  passengers  for  two 
shillings  and  sixpence,  but  it  was  somewhat  irregular  in 
its  movements,  and  could  not  be  relied  on.  Nowadays 
the  omnibus  will  carry  you  for  threepence. 

'•When  a  ship  arrived  and  anchored  in  the  bay  the 
passengers  had  to  pay  three  shillings  each  to  be  put  on 
shore,  and  very  often  the  boatman  raised  the  tariff  to  five 
shillings  whenever  he  thought  he  could  induce  or  compel 
the  passengers  to  pay  it.  The  charge  for  baggage  was 
a  separate  one,  and  sometimes  it  cost  more  to  take  a  quan- 
titv  of  baggage  from  Sandridge  to  Melbourne  than  it  had 
cost  to  bring  it  all  the  way  from  London  to  Sandridge,  a 
distance  of  thirteen  thousand  miles." 

"  It  was  a  golden  harvest  for  the  boatmen  and  every- 
body else  engaged  in  the  transportation  business,"  Harry 
remarked. 

"Indeed,  it  was,"  said  the  gentleman;  "and  a  great 
many  people  had  the  sense  to  perceive  that  they  had  a 
better  chance  for  a  fortune  by  remaining  right  here  than 
by  going  to  the  mines,  where  everything  was  uncertain." 

"I  suppose  evervthing  else  was  in  proportion,  was  it 
not?  "  queried  Ned. 

"  That  was  exactly  the  case,"  w?as  the  reply.  "When 
goods  were  brought  on  shore  they  were  loaded  into  carts 
for  transportation  to  Melbourne,  and  the  cart  was  not 
allowed  to  move  out  of  the  yard  until  three  pounds  ster- 
ling had  been  paid  for  taking  the  load  to  the  city.     The 


l6o  THE  LAND  OF  THE  KANGAROO. 

travelers  protested  and  said  they  would  not  pay,  but  they 
generally  did,  as  there  was  no  other  alternative.  When 
they  got  to  the  city  they  found  the  same  scale  of  prices. 

"The  poorest  kind  of  a  room  without  any  furniture 
would  bring  ten  dollars  a  week,  and  a  stall  in  the  stable 
of  a  hotel  which  would  accommodate  two  men  rented 
readily  for  ten  shillings  a  night.  Hotel-keepers  made 
fortunes,  or  at  least  some  of  them  did,  and  others  might 
have  done  so  if  they  had  taken  care  of  their  money. 
I  have  heard  of  one  hotel-keeper  who  had  his  house 
crammed  full  of  patrons,  none  of  them  paying  less  than 
ten  shillings  a  night  for  their  lodging,  while  he  had 
seventy-five  lodgers  in  his  stables,  each  of  them  paying 
five  shillings  apiece. 

"  A  great  many  people  spread  tents  on  the  waste  ground 
outside  of  the  city  to  save  the  expense  of  lodgings.  They 
did  not  succeed  altogether  in  doing  so,  as  the  government 
required  them  to  pay  at  the  rate  of  sixty  dollars  a  year  for 
the  privilege  of  putting  up  a  tent.  Everybody  was  anxious 
to  get  away  from  Melbourne  as  quickly  as  possible,  but 
they  underwent  great  delays  in  getting  their  goods  out  of 
the  ships." 

"  I  suppose  you  had  no  railways  at  that  time  to  facilitate 
travel,"  one  of  the  youths  remarked. 

' '  No  ;  there  were  no  railways  and  the  only  way  of  travel 
was  by  the  ordinary  route,  and  very  ordinary  it  was  in 
many  places.  It  was  not  a  graded  and  macadamized  road 
such  as  you  find  in  England,  but  simply  a  rough  pathway, 
principally  of  nature's  manufacture.  It  was  full  of  ruts 
and  gullies,  very  muddy  in  the  rainy  season,  and  terribly 


THE  HARBOR  OF  MELBOURNE.  l6l 

dusty  in  the  dry  times.  Travelers  went  to  the  mines  in  all 
sorts  of  ways,  some  on  foot,  and  some  by  ox  and  horse 
wagons,  and  if  they  had  plenty  of  money,  and  were 
determined  to  have  luxury  and  speed  at  whatever  cost, 
they  traveled  by  stage-coach.  An  American  firm,  Cobb 
&  Company,  came  here  in  the  early  days  and  established 
lines  of  stage-coaches,  first  from  Melbourne  to  the  mines, 
and  afterwards  all  over  Australia.  Cobb's  coaches  are 
still  running  on  some  of  the  interior  routes  that  are  not 
covered  bv  railway,  but  wherever  the  locomotive  has  put 
in  its  appearance  it  has  forced  them  out  of  the  way." 

"  I  have  read  somewhere,"  said  Harry,  "  that  traveling 
on  the  road  to  the  mines  was  not  very  safe  in  those  days." 

"  That  depended  somewhat  on  the  way  one  was  going," 
was  the  reply.  "  Travelers  going  towards  the  mines  were 
not  very  liable  to  attack,  as  they  were  not  supposed  to 
have  anv  money,  but  it  was  not  so  with  those  coming  from 
the  mines  to  the  coast.  The  natural  supposition  was  that 
an  individual  moving  in  the  direction  of  Melbourne  had 
'  made  his  pile  '  and  was  on  his  way  home.  The  country 
was  infested  with  ex-convicts  and  men  who  had  escaped 
from  convict  service  in  Australia  and  Tasmania.  They 
were  known  as  'bushrangers,'  and  great  numbers  of  them 
were  along  the  routes  to  the  mines.  They  lived  in  caves 
among  the  hills,  or  in  the  open  air,  and  occasionally  took 
shelter  in  out  stations  on  sheep  runs.  They  supplied 
themselves  with  food  by  stealing  sheep  and  cattle  from  the 
ranches,  and  by  robbing  wagons  laden  with  provisions  on 
their  way  to  the  mines.  Clothing  they  obtained  by  the 
same  system  of  plunder,  and  whenever  the  haunt  of  a  gang 


l62  THE  LAND  OF  THE  KANGAROO. 

was  discovered  by  the  police  it  was  almost  invariably 
found  to  be  well  stocked  with  provisions  and  clothing. 

"These  were  the  fellows  that  made  life  miserable  to 
the  miners  returning  to  the  coast.  The  bushrangers 
traveled  in  gangs  of  all  the  way  from  five  to  fifteen  or 
twenty,  and  sometimes  more,  and  each  gang  was  led  by 
the  most  desperate  man  among  them.  They  used  to 
'  stick  up  '  solitary  travelers,  or  travelers  in  groups  of  a 
dozen  or  more.  They  lay  in  wait  at  turnings  of  the  road 
or  near  the  summits  of  hills,  and  generally  took  their 
victims  by  surprise.  If  a  man  submitted  quietly  to  be 
robbed,  he  was  generally  left  unharmed,  but  if  he  made 
any  resistance,  he  was  knocked  senseless  or  shot  down 
without  the  least  compunction.  Sometimes  these  gangs 
were  so  numerous  that  hardly  a  traveler  escaped  them. 
Then  there  would  be  a  lull  in  the  business  for  a  time  and 
the  road  would  be  particularly  safe. 

"  Once  a  week  or  so,  gold  was  sent  down  from  the 
mines  by  the  government  authorities,  and  of  course  it  was 
accompanied  by  a  strong  and  well-armed  escort  of  police. 
Many  people  entrusted  their  gold  to  the  escort,  paying 
a  high  premium  for  the  guarantee  of  safe  delivery  in 
Melbourne.  A  good  many  people  used  to  accompany  the 
escort  for  the  protection  it  afforded,  but  the  number 
became  so  great  and  troublesome  that  the  government  at 
length  refused  to  permit  travelers  to  go  in  that  way  unless 
they  paid  the  same  premium  on  the  gold  that  they  carried 
as  was  paid  by  those  who  shipped  the  precious  metal. 
Not  infrequently  the  bushrangers  attacked  the  government 
escort,  and  on  several  occasions  they  were  successful. 


THE  HARBOR  OF  MELBOURNE.  163 

"  It  was  a  piece  of  good  fortune  that,  as  a  general  thing, 
the  bushrangers  were  never  able  to  agree  with  each  other 
very  long.  After  a  gang  had  been  organized  and  selected 
its  leader,  dissensions  arose  very  speedily,  particularly  as 
to  the  division  of  the  spoil.  The  leader  always  believed 
that  he  ought  to  have  a  larger  share  of  the  plunder  than 
anybody  else,  while  all  the  subordinate  members  believed 
just  as  earnestly  that  their  stealings  should  be  divided 
equally.  In  this  way  quarrels  took  place.  The  captain 
would  be  deposed  and  another  one  selected,  and  he  in 
time  would  share  the  fate  of  his  predecessors. 

"Some  of  the  bushrangers  were  quite  famous  for  their 
bravery  and  daring,  and  they  used  to  give  the  police  a 
great  deal  of  hard  fighting.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
police  acquired  a  high  reputation  for  their  skill  in  fight- 
ing and  capturing  bushrangers.  They  were  instructed  to 
bring  in  their  captives  alive,  if  possible,  but  it  did  not 
injure  their  reputations  at  all  if  they  killed  the  scoundrels 
on  the  spot.  The  government  wanted  to  be  rid  of  the 
rascals,  and  frequently  offered  rewards  for  their  capture, 
'  dead  or  alive.' 

"  Whenever  the  bushrangers  made  a  haul  of  gold  dust  it 
was  divided  as  soon  as  possible,  each  man  taking  his  share 
and  doing  with  it  what  he  pleased.  They  generally  hid  their 
booty  in  spots  known  only  to  themselves,  and  when  any  of 
the  bushrangers  were  captured,  the  police  usually  proceeded 
to  draw  from  them  the  information  as  to  where  their  gold 
was  concealed.  Naturally,  the  fellows  were  unwilling  to 
say,  and  if  they  refused  to  tell,  various  means  were 
resorted  to  to  make  them  give  up  the  desired  information. 


164  THE  LAND  OF  THE  KANGAROO. 

Singeing  their  hair,  pinching  their  fingers  and  toes,  or  sub- 
mitting them  to  other  physical  tortures,  were  among  the 
means  commonly  used. 

"  When  ordinary  methods  failed,  a  favorite  device  was 
to  tie  the  bushranger  hand  and  foot,  and  then  place  him 
on  an  ant  hill.  The  black  ant  of  Australia  has  a  bite  that 
is  very  painful,  and  when  hundreds  of  thousands  of  ants 
are  biting  a  man  all  at  once,  the  feeling  is  something  fear- 
ful. The  ant-hill  torture  was  generally  successful.  After 
submitting  to  it  for  a  time,  the  bushranger  generally  gave 
up  the  secret  of  the  whereabouts  of  his  gold.  I  do  not 
mean  to  say  that  all  the  police  officials  indulged  in  this 
harsh  treatment,  but  it  is  certain  that  many  of  them  did. 

"  It  is  probable  that  a  great  deal  of  stolen  gold  is  con- 
cealed in  the  country  bordering  the  road  from  Melbourne 
to  the  gold  diggings  which  will  never  be  found.  Many 
of  the  bushrangers  were  killed  while  fighting  with  the 
police,  died  of  their  wounds,  or  in  prison,  or  managed  to 
flee  the  country  without  giving  up  the  secret  which  would 
have  enabled  the  authorities  to  find  where  their  treasures 
were  concealed.  Occasionally  one  of  their  deposits  is 
found  by  accident,  but  there  are  doubtless  hundreds  which 
nobody  will  ever  come  upon. 

"  There  was  a  great  deal  of  lawlessness  in  and  around 
Melbourne  in  those  days.  One  afternoon  a  band  of 
robbers  took  possession  of  the  road  between  Melbourne 
and  Sandridge,  and  '  stuck  up  '  everybody  who  attempted 
to  pass.  People  were  tied  to  trees  and  robbed,  and  for  an 
hour  or  two  the  bandits  were  in  full  possession  of  the  road. 
They  had  one  of  their  number  on  watch  who  gave  the  sig- 


THE  HARBOR  OF  MELBOURNE.  l6$ 

nal  when  the  police  approached,  and  thus  they  were  en- 
abled to  get  away  in  good  time,  leaving  their  victims 
fastened  to  the  trees. 

"Once  a  ship  was  anchored  in  the  harbor,  ready  to 
sail  for  England,  with  several  thousand  ounces  of  gold 
on  board.  She  was  to  leave  the  next  forenoon,  and  was 
to  receive  her  crew  and  passengers  early  in  the  morning. 
There  were  only  some  ten  or  twelve  persons  on  board. 
Along  about  midnight  a  boat  came  to  the  side  of  the  ship, 
and,  when  hailed  by  the  lookout,  the  answer  was  given 
that  two  passengers  were  coming  on  board.  Two  men 
came  up  the  side  of  the  ship  dressed  like  ordinary  pas- 
sengers, and  without  any  suspicious  appearance  about 
them. 

"  While  they  w^ere  in  conversation  with  the  lookout  and 
asking  about  the  location  of  their  rooms,  they  suddenly 
seized  and  bound  him,  and  put  a  gag  in  his  mouth  to  pre- 
vent his  making  an  outcry.  Then  several  other  men  came 
up  the  side  of  the  ship  very  quickly,  and  one  by  one  all 
on  board  were  bound  and  gagged  so  quietly  and  speedily 
that  they  could  not  give  the  least  alarm.  The  robbers 
then  opened  the  treasure-room,  took  possession  of  the  gold, 
lowered  it  into  their  boat  and  rowed  away.  They  were 
not  on  the  ship  more  than  half  an  hour,  and  as  no  one 
came  to  ascertain  the  state  of  affairs  and  give  the  alarm 
until  the  next  morning,  the  robbers  succeeded  in  getting 
away  with  all  their  plunder.  It  was  a  very  bold  perform- 
ance, but  from  that  time  such  a  careful  watch  was  kept  on 
board  of  the  ships  that  it  could  not  be  repeated. 

"  A  fair  proportion  of  the  successful  miners  kept  their 


I 66  THE    LAND    OF    THE    KANGAROO. 

money  and  went  home  with  it,  but  there  was  a  large  number 
who  seemed  to  believe  that  the  best  use  to  be  made  of  gold 
was  to  get  rid  of  it  as  quickly  as  possible,  and  they  found 
plenty  of  people  ready  and  willing  to  help  them  in  this 
work ;  and  it  was  not  infrequently  the  case  that  miners 
were  killed  for  the  sake  of  their  gold,  and  their  bodies 
disposed  of  in  the  most  convenient  way.  Most  of  the  men 
who  thus  disappeared  had  no  relatives  or  intimate  friends 
in  the  country,  and  consequently  their  disappearance  caused 
no  inquiries  to  be  made  concerning  them.  If  the  waters 
of  Hobson's  Bay  would  give  up  their  dead,  and  the  dead 
could  speak,  there  would  be  a  long  series  of  fearful  tales." 

"  Those  bushranger  fellows  must  have  been  terrible 
men,"  remarked  Harry  as  the  gentleman  paused.  "What 
did  the  authorities  do  with  them  whenever  they  caught 
any?" 

"They  disposed  of  them  in  various  ways,"  was  the 
reply.  "Those  who  had  been  guilty  of  murder  or  an 
attempt  at  it  were  hanged,  while  those  against  whom  mur- 
der could  not  be  proved  were  sent  to  the  hulks  for  life  or 
for  long  terms  of  imprisonment." 

"What  were  the  hulks?  I  don't  know  as  I  understand 
the  term." 

"Oh,  the  hulks  were  ships,  old  ships  that  had  been 
pronounced  unseaworthy  and  dismantled.  They  were 
anchored  in  Hobson's  Bay  after  being  fitted  up  as  prisons, 
and  very  uncomfortable  prisons  they  were.  A  most 
terrible  system  of  discipline  prevailed  on  board  of  these 
hulks.  The  man  who  established  the  system,  or  rather, 
the  one  who  had  administered  it,  was  beaten  to  death  by  a 


THE  HARBOR  OF  MELBOURNE.  167 

gang  of  desperate  convicts,  who  rushed  upon  him  one  day 
on  the  deck  of  one  of  the  hulks,  with  the  determination  to 
kill  him  for  the  cruelties  they  had  suffered.  Before  the 
guards  could  stop  them  they  had  literally  pounded  the 
life  out  of  him  and  flung  his  body  overboard." 

"  How  long  did  they  keep  up  that  system?  "  one  of  the 
3'ouths  asked. 

"From  1850  to  1857,"  their  informant  replied.  "In 
the  last-named  year  the  practise  of  imprisonment  on  board 
of  the  hulks  was  discontinued  and  the  convicts  were  put  into 
prisons  on  shore.  Four  of  the  hulks  were  sold  and  broken 
up,  and  the  fifth,  the  Success,  was  bought  by  speculators 
and  kept  for  exhibition  purposes.  She  was  shown  in  all  the 
ports  of  Australia  for  many  years,  and  was  at  last  taken 
to  England  and  put  on  exhibition  there.  She  was  five 
months  making  the  voyage  from  Australia  to  England,  and 
at  one  time  fears  were  entertained  for  her  safety ;  but  she 
reached  her  destination  all  right,  and  has  probably  reaped 
a  harvest  of  money  for  her  exhibitors.  She  was  built  in 
India  in  1790,  her  hull  being  made  of  solid  teak-wood. 
She  was  an  East  Indian  trader  for  more  than  forty  years, 
then  she  was  an  emigrant  ship,  and  finally,  in  1852,  a 
convict  hulk. 

"The  convicts  on  board  these  hulks,  or  at  any  rate  the 
worst  of  them,  were  always  kept  in  irons,  but  this  did  not 
deter  them  from  jumping  overboard  and  trying  to  swim  to 
the  shore.  Very  few  of  these  ever  succeeded  in  reaching 
the  land,  as  they  were  either  carried  to  the  bottom  by  the 
weight  of  the  irons,  or  were  captured  by  the  guard  boats 
that    constantlv  surrounded  the  hulks.      Most  of  the  con- 


1 68  THE    LAND    OF    THE    KANGAROO. 

victs  were  confined  in  separate  cells,  and  the  '  history  '  of 
each  convict  was  posted  on  the  door  of  his  cell. 

"  Nearly  the  whole  interior  of  the  ship  was  thus  divided 
into  cells,  and  when  candles  and  lanterns  were  removed 
the  places  were  in  pitchy  darkness.  I  went  on  board  the 
Success  one  dav,  while  she  was  on  exhibition  here,  long 
after  she  had  given  up  her  old  occupation,  and  as  a  matter 
of  curiosity,  I  had  myself  shut  up  in  one  of  the  cells  and 
the  light  removed.  I  told  them  to  leave  me  in  for  ten 
minutes  only,  not  longer. 

"It  was  on  the  lower  deck,  where  not  a  ray  of  light 
could  come  in,  and  the  place  where  they  locked  me  in  was 
one  of  the  '  black  holes '  in  which  prisoners  were  confined 
from  one  to  twenty-eight  days  on  bread  and  water. 

"As  soon  as  they  had  locked  me  in  and  went  away, 
I  regretted  that  I  had  made  the  suggestion.  You  have 
heard  of  its  being  so  dark  that  you  could  feel  the  dark- 
ness ;  well,  that  was  the  case  down  there.  I  felt  the 
darkness  pressing  upon  me,  and  the  air  was  very  thick  and 
heavy.  I  felt  an  overwhelming  desire  to  light  a  match, 
and  discovered  that  I  had  no  matches  in  my  pocket. 

"  One,  two,  three,  and  four  minutes  passed  away,  and 
I  had  had  all  I  wanted.  I  kicked  and  hammered  at  the 
thick  door,  and  when  it  was  opened  and  I  went  out  of 
the  hold  and  up  on  deck,  I  was  nearly  blinded.  How  in 
the  world  a  man  could  stay  in  one  of  those  places  for  a 
single  day,  let  alone  twenty-eight  days,  without  losing 
his  reason  is  more  than  I  can  understand."' 

Harry  asked  if  all  the  prisoners  were  kept  in  solitary 
cells  on  board  of  these  hulks. 


THE  HARBOR  OF  MELBOURNE.  169 

••  .Most,  but  not  all,  of  them  were  confined  in  this  way. 
There  is  a  space  at  the  stern,  and  another  in  the  center  of 
the  ship,  heavily  barred  with  iron,  where  those  who  were 
considered  utterly  irreclaimable  were  huddled  together. 
It  would  almost  seem  as  though  the  authorities  deliberately 
put  them  there  in  order  that  they  should  kill  each  other, 
as  fights  among  them  were  very  frequent  and  not  a  few 
were  murdered  by  their  companions.  They  did  not  work, 
they  were  simply  in  prison,  that  was  all. 

"The  punishments  that  the  convicts  received  were 
various.  They  had  the  dark  cells  and  bread  and  water 
of  which  I  have  told  you,  and  then  they  had  floggings, 
and  plenty  of  them,  too.  They  were  tied  up  by  the 
thumbs  so  that  their  toes  just  touched  the  deck,  and  they 
were  compelled  to  sustain  the  weight  of  the  body  either 
on  their  thumbs  or  their  toes  for  hours  at  a  time.  They 
were  '  bucked,'  '  gagged,'  and  '  paddled,'  and  <  cold- 
showered,'  and  treated  to  other  brutalities  which  have 
been  known  in  the  English  army  and  navy  for  a  long 
time.  In  spite  of  their  liability  to  punishment,  many  of 
them  paid  little  attention  to  the  rules,  and  some  were  con- 
tinually yelling  in  the  most  horrible  manner,  and  day  and 
night  the  sound  of  their  voices  was  heard. 

"  Over  the  hatchway  was  a  wheel  by  which  the  food  of 
the  convicts  was  lowered  into  the  hold  at  morning,  noon, 
and  night ;  at  other  times  it  was  used  for  raising  in  an 
iron  cage,  from  the  lower  decks,  convicts  who  were  al- 
lowed exercise,  but  the  weight  of  whose  irons  prevented 
their  ascending  by  the  companionways.  Many  of  them 
wore   'punishment  balls"    attached    to    their    irons.      The 


170  THE  LAND  OF  THE  KANGAROO. 

punishment  balls  and  chain  together  weighed  about  eighty 
pounds,  and  frequently  bowed  the  prisoner  double. 

"  The  heaviest  leg  irons  weighed  thirty-five  pounds,  and 
some  of  them  forty  pounds.  You  will  readily  understand 
why  it  was  that  men  who  tried  to  escape  by  swimming, 
with  such  weights  about  them,  were  almost  invariably 
drowned  in  the  attempt. 

"A  good  many  famous  criminals  were  confined  on 
board  of  the  Success  and  her  four  sister  hulks.  Anions 
them  was  the  notorious  Captain  Melville,  who  for  several 
years  haunted  the  country  between  Melbourne  and  Balla- 
rat,  and  was  credited  with  many  murders  and  countless 
robberies.  When  he  was  finally  caught  he  admitted  that 
his  own  share  of  the  gold  he  had  stolen  amounted  to  not 
less  than  two  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  dollars,  and  he 
claimed  that  he  had  hidden  it  in  a  place  known  only  to 
himself.  For  the  last  forty  years  people  have  been  trying 
in  vain  to  find  out  where  Melville  hid  his  ill-gotten  gold. 
He  was  in  the  habit  of  riding  to  the  top  of  Mount  Boran, 
whence,  by  the  aid  of  a  powerful  field-glass,  he  was  able  to 
see  the  returning  gold  miners  on  the  road.  Consequently, 
it  is  believed  that  Melville's  treasure  must  be  hidden  in  the 
neighborhood  of  Mount  Boran,  but  all  attempts  to  find  it 
have  proved  fruitless. 

"  Melville  was  tried  and  convicted  and  condemned  to 
be  imprisoned  for  thirty-two  years  on  board  the  Success. 
He  watched  his  opportunity,  and  formed  a  conspiracy  with 
a  number  of  his  fellow-convicts  to  rush  upon  a  boat  and 
the  keeper  in  charge  of  it  and  take  possession.  The  plan 
succeeded  and  the  escaped  convicts  pulled  to  the  shore  in 


TIIJ-:    HARBOR    OF    MELBOURNE.  171 

safety,  although  fired  upon  by  all  the  hulks  and  war  ships 
in  the  harbor.  Melville  was  soon  recaptured,  and  at  his 
trial  he  defended  himself  brilliantly,  relating  in  burning 
words  the  horrors  of  the  penal  system  on  board  the  hulks. 

'-  The  speech  was  published  in  the  Melbourne  papers 
and  caused  a  great  sensation.  A  great  mass  meeting  of 
the  citizens  was  held,  and  resolutions  were  passed  in  favor 
of  abolishing  the  convict  hulks.  The  popular  feeding 
aroused  against  them  was  so  strong  and  general  that, 
although  the  government  had  sentenced  Melville  to  death 
for  killing  the  keeper  in  his  attempt  to  escape,  it  was  com- 
pelled to  commute  the  sentence  to  imprisonment  for  life. 
He  was  not  sent  back  to  the  Success^  but  was  incarcerated 
in  the  jail  at  Melbourne.  According  to  the  official  report, 
he  committed  suicide  there,  but  the  unofficial  version  of  the 
affair  is  that  he  was  strangled  to  death  by  a  keeper  during 
a  struggle  in  which  the  prisoner  was  trying  to  escape. 

'-  Melville  at  one  time  had  eight}*  men  in  his  gang,  the 
largest  number  of  bushrangers  at  any  time  under  a  single 
leader.  Another  scoundrel  who  was  confined  on  the  Suc- 
cess was  Henry  Garrett,  who,  in  broad  daylight,  -stuck  up' 
the  Ballarat  bank  and  robbed  it  of  16,000  pounds.  One 
of  his  tricks  consisted  in  wearing  a  suit  of  clothes  of  cleri- 
cal cut,  a  white  necktie,  and  broad-brimmed  hat.  On  one 
occasion  he  walked  into  the  bank  dressed  in  this  manner, 
stepped  up  to  the  safe  and  began  to  plunder  it.  lb'  was 
a  man  of  good  education,  and  varied  robbery  with  the 
pursuit  of  literature.  He  used  to  write  essays  and  other 
articles,  which  he  sent  to  the  newspapers,  and  on  one 
occasion  he  wrote  an  essay  on  crime. 


172  THE  LAND  OF  THE  KANGAROO. 

"  One  man,  William  Stevens,  helped  Melville  and  his 
gang  in  their  attempt  to  escape  from  the  Success.  He 
struck  down  a  warder  with  a  stone-cutter's  axe  and  jumped 
overboard.  He  was  never  seen  again,  and  the  authorities 
were  always  in  doubt  whether  he  escaped  or  went  to  the 
bottom,  the  prevailing  opinion  being  in  favor  of  the  latter 
result.  Another  famous  bushranger  was  Captain  Moon- 
light, who  served  his  time  and  became  a  respectable  citi- 
zen. Another  prisoner,  after  serving  for  fifteen  years,  was 
given  the  position  of  '  guide '  upon  the  vessel  by  her 
owners,  and  made  a  comfortable  income  by  showing 
visitors  around." 


CHAPTER  XL 

GEELONG  AUSTRALIAN     GOLD    MINES  FINDING    A     BIG 

NUGGET. 

WHEN  they  had  finished  with  Williamstown  and 
Sandridge  our  friends  went  to  St.  Kilda,  which 
may  be  called  the  Coney  Island  of  Melbourne,  as  it  is 
very  popular  with  those  who  are  fond  of  salt-water  bath- 
ing. Harry  and  Ned  remarked  that  there  were  hotels, 
restaurants,  and  other  places  of  resort  and  amusement 
such  as  are  usually  found  at  seaside  watering  places,  and 
Ned  thought  it  would  require  no  great  stretch  of  the 
imagination  to  believe  that  they  were  at  the  famous  bath- 
ing place  of  New  York.  Ned  observed  that  there  were 
fences  consisting  of  posts  set  in  the  ground,  not  more  than 
ten  or  twelve  inches  apart,  extending  a  considerable  dis- 
tance out  into  the  water  and  completely  enclosing  the 
bathing  place. 

He  asked  why  the  fences  were  placed  there,  and  was 
informed  that  it  was  because  the  bay  abounded  in  sharks, 
and  people  who  came  there  to  bathe  had  a  prejudice 
against  being  eaten  up  by  these  sea-wolves.  "  If  we 
should  take  away  the  fences,"  said  one  of  the  attendants 
at  the  bathing  house,  "we  would  not  do  any  more  busi- 
ness here,  and  you  may  be  sure  that  we  are  very  careful 
to  keep  the  fences  in  order." 

Sharks    abound    all    through    the    waters    of    Australia. 


174  TIIE    LAND    OF    THE    KANGAROO. 

They  have  caused  not  a  few  deaths,  and  everybody  who 
understands  about  them  is  careful  not  to  venture  into  the 
water  at  any  place  where  the  creatures  are  liable  to  come  ; 
but  occasionally  one  hears  of  an  incautious  or  ignorant 
person  falling  a  prey  to  these  monsters  of  the  deep. 
When  sailboats  and  other  craft  are  overturned  in  storms 
or  sudden  squalls  and  their  occupants  are  thrown  into  the 
water,  they  suffer  fearful  peril.  Not  long  ago  a  small  sail- 
boat was  overturned  in  Port  Philip  Bay  with  two  gentle- 
men and  a  lady  on  board,  in  addition  to  the  boatman  and 
his  boy.  Before  help  could  reach  them  the  whole  five 
had  fallen  victims  to  the  sharks. 

Port  Philip  Bay,  into  which  Hobson's  Bay  opens,  is  a 
grand  sheet  of  water  between  thirty  and  forty  miles  wide, 
and  navigable  for  ships  of  all  sizes,  and  the  bay  affords 
anchoring  space  for  all  the  ships  in  the  world,  in  case 
they  should  come  there  at  the  same  time.  The  en- 
trance to  the  bay  is  about  thirty  miles  from  Melbourne, 
and  at  Queenscliff  near  the  entrance  there  is  a  fine 
watering  place,  which  is  reached  both  by  railway  and 
by  steamboat.  It  has  the  advantage  of  St.  Kilda  in 
standing  on  the  shore  of  the  ocean,  while  the  former 
place  has  only  the  waters  of  the  bay  in  front  of  it.  Many 
Melbourneites  go  to  Queenscliff  to  enjoy  the  ocean  breezes 
and  watch  the  surf  breaking  on  the  shore.  While  St. 
Kilda  may  be  called  the  Coney  Island  of  Melbourne, 
Queenscliff  is  fairly  entitled  to  be  considered  its  Long 
Branch. 

On  their  return  to  Melbourne,  the  youths  found  at  their 
hotel  an  invitation  to  make  a  trip  on  the  following  day  to 


GEELONG.  175 

Geelong.  When  Dr.  Whitney  read  the  invitation  to  the 
youths,  Harry  asked  where   Geelong  was. 

"Oh,  I  know  about  that,"  said  Ned;  "I  happened 
to  be  reading  about  it  this  morning." 

"  Well,  where  is  it?" 

"  Geelon"-  is  a  town  forty-five  miles  'from  Melbourne," 
replied  Xed,  "  and  it  is  a  fairly  prosperous  town,  too. 
It  is  not  quite  as  old  as  Melbourne,  but  at  one  time  the 
inhabitants  thought  that  their  town  would  outstrip  Mel- 
bourne completely." 

"  How  is  that?  " 

"The  town  stands  on  Corio  Bay,  an  arm  of  Port 
Philip  Bay,  and  has  a  good  harbor :  in  fact,  the  harbor  at 
that  time  was  better  than  that  at  Melbourne.  The  peo- 
ple of  Geelong  went  to  work  and  built  a  railway  from 
their  city  to  Melbourne,  with  the  idea  that  if  they  did  so, 
all  the  wool  that  was  being  shipped  from  Melbourne 
would  be  sent  to  Geelong  for  shipment,  while  the  car- 
goes of  foreign  goods  that  landed  at  Melbourne  would  be 
landed  at  Geelong." 

"The  plan  did  not  work  as  they  expected,  did  it?  " 

•■  Xot  by  any  means.  As  soon  as  the  railway  was  built, 
wool  coming  into  Geelong  was  sent  to  Melbourne  for  ship- 
ment, and  goods  that  were  intended  for  Geelong  were 
landed  at  Melbourne  and  sent  over  by  railway.  In  this 
way  the  measures  the}'  had  taken  to  increase  their  trade 
worked  exactly  the  other  way  and  diminished  it." 

"  Don't  they  have  any  foreign  commerce  at  all  at  Gee- 
long?" Harrv  asked. 

"  Oh,  yes,  they  have  some,  but  nothing  in  comparison 


1^6  THE    LAND    OF    THE    KANGAROO. 

with  Melbourne.  We  will  learn  something  about  it  when 
we  go  there." 

As  there  are  three  passenger  steamers  running  between 
Geelong  and  Melbourne  daily,  the  party  went  by  railway 
and  returned  by  water.  In  the  railway  journey  they  had 
a  pleasant  ride  along  the  shore  of  Port  Philip  Bay,  and 
arrived  at  their  destination  in  a  little  more  than  two  hours 
from  the  time  of  starting.  They  found  the  town  pleasantly 
situated  on  Corio  Bay,  being  laid  out  on  ground  sloping 
to  the  bay  on  the  north  and  to  the  Barwon  River  on  the 
south.  Along  the  streets  were  fine  shops,  attractive 
stores,  and  every  indication  of  an  industrious  and  pros- 
perous population. 

In  the  suburbs,  where  they  were  taken  in  a  carriage  by 
the  gentleman  who  accompanied  them,  they  found  numer- 
ous private  residences,  many  of  them  of  a  superior  char- 
acter. The  gentleman  told  them  that  Geelong  was  famous 
for  its  manufactures  of  woolens  and  other  goods,  and  that 
it  built  the  first  woolen  mill  in  Victoria.  Iron  foundries, 
wood- working  establishments,  and  other  industrial  con- 
cerns were  visited,  so  that  our  friends  readily  understood 
whence  the  prosperity  of  Geelong  came.  Their  host  told 
them  that  Geelong  had  long  since  given  up  its  ideas  of 
rivalry  with  Melbourne,  and  had  settled  down  with  the 
determination  to  develop  itself  in  every  feasible  way  and 
let  things  take  care  of  themselves. 

Our  young  friends  thought  they  would  like  to  see 
something  of  the  gold  mines  of  Victoria,  and  asked 
Dr.  Whitney  about  them.  He  readily  assented,  and  the 
trip  to  Ballarat  was  speedily  arranged,   and    also  one  to 


GEELONG.  177 

Sandhurst,  which  is  the  present  name  of  Bendigo  of  gold- 
mining  days.  Ballarat  was  the  most  important  place  of 
the  two,  and  its  placer  mines  gave  a  greater  yield  of  gold 
than  did  those  of  Bendigo.  At  both  places  the  placer 
mines  were  exhausted  long  ago,  but  gold  is  still  taken 
from  the  rocks  and  reefs  which  underlie  the  whole 
region. 

The  mining  establishments  of  Ballarat  are  outside  of 
the  city  itself,  and  when  the  visitors  reached  the  place 
and  rode  through  the  town  they  could  hardly  believe  they 
were  in  a  gold-mining  region.  The  streets  are  wide,  and 
most  of  them  well  shaded  with  trees,  while  some  of  them 
are  so  broad  that  they  deserve  the  name  of  avenues 
rather  than  that  of  streets.  There  are  substantial  public 
buildings  and  a  goodlv  number  of  churches,  a  botanical 
garden,  and  all  the  other  features  of  a  quiet  and  well- 
established  city,  and  it  was  quite  difficult  for  them  to 
believe  that  they  were  in  a  place  whose  chief  industry 
was  the  extraction  of  gold  from  the  ground.  All  the 
lawless  features  of  the  Ballarat  of  gold-rush  days  had 
disappeared,  and  the  town  was  as  peaceful  as  any  one 
could  wish  to  find  it. 

Our  friends  brought  a  letter  of  introduction  to  a  gentle- 
man of  Ballarat,  who  kindly  consented  to  show  them  about 
the  place  and  answer  any  questions  that  they  wished  to 
ask. 

Ilarrv's  first  question  was,  whether  the  first  discoveries 
of  gold  in  Australia  were  made  at  Ballarat  or  elsewhere. 

"It  is  very  difficult  to  say  exactly,"  the  gentleman 
answered,   kk  where  the  first    discoveries  were  made,  but 


178  THE  LAND  OF  THE  KANGAROO. 

certainly  they  were  not  made  at  this  spot.  According  to 
history  and  tradition,  gold  was  discovered  in  the  mountains 
behind  Sydney  about  the  year  1814,  but  the  news  of  the 
finding  of  the  precious  metal  was  kept  a  secret  by  the 
government.  At  intervals  of  a  few  years  from  that  time 
small  deposits  of  gold  were  found  at  various  places  in 
New  South  Wales  and  Victoria,  but  these  were  also  kept 
a  secret,  the  individuals  who  found  the  deposits  being  in 
one  way  or  another  under  the  control  of  the  government. 

"  In  the  early  part  of  185 1  a  miner  from  California, 
named  Hargreaves,  discovered  gold  at  Lewis  Pond  Creek 
in  New  South  Wales,  and  about  the  middle  of  the  same 
year  another  California  miner,  named  Esmond,  found  a 
deposit  of  gold  at  Clunes,  sixteen  miles  from  Ballarat. 
Before  the  government  could  take  any  steps  for  suppress- 
ing it  the  news  had  spread  and  the  excitement  began. 
The  stories  were  greatly  exaggerated,  and  many  people 
came  here  believing  that  they  had  only  to  shovel  the  gold 
from  the  ground  into  barrels  and  boxes,  and  send  it  away 
to  be  converted  into  coin.  That  was  the  beginning  of  the 
gold  rush,  and  a  rush  it  was,  you  may  be  sure. 

"  From  all  over  Australia  people  nocked  to  the  new 
El  Dorado.  Mechanics  of  all  kinds  left  their  employ- 
ments ;  shepherds  deserted  their  flocks ;  merchants  and 
clerks  fled  from  their  counting-houses ;  farmers  quit  their 
fields  and  gardens,  doctors  and  lawyers  their  offices,  and 
the  whole  country  seemed  to  have  gone  mad  about  gold. 
Youth  and 'age  got  the  fever  alike;  boys  of*  sixteen  and 
men  of  seventy  walked  side  by  side  on  their  way  to  the 
mines.     Melbourne   and   Sydney   were   deserted,  and  the 


GEELONG.  179 

prediction  was  made  that  before  the  end  of  the  year  grass 
would  be  growing  in  the  principal  streets  of  those  cities. 

"  Provisions,  clothing,  and  miners'  tools  and  equipments 
rose  to  an  enormous  price.  Picks  or  shovels  worth  four 
or  rive  shillings  apiece  in  the  sea-coast  cities  were  sold 
for  ten  pounds  apiece  at  the  mines.  Nails  for  building 
sluices  sometimes  brought  their  weight  in  gold.  Bacon 
and  Hour  were  worth  a  dollar  a  pound,  and  not  always  to 
be  procured  at  that  figure.  The  most  ordinary  shelter 
was  worth  ten  shillings  a  night,  and  the  rental  price  of  a 
house  for  a  month  was  the  equivalent  of  its  cost. 

"The  government  refused  to  permit  anybody  to  work 
at  mining  without  a  license,  and  the  miners  were  so  numer- 
ous that  the  revenue  from  the  licenses  issued  was  a  large 
one.  The  money  thus  obtained  was  expended  in  organ- 
izing a  strong  police  force  and  preserving  order.  Where- 
ever  mining  fields  were  opened,  a  gold  commissioner  with 
a  police  escort  at  his  back  made  his  appearance  as  soon  as 
possible,  and  insured  a  certain  degree  of  safety.  Miners 
could  leave  their  gold  with  the  commissioner,  either  on 
deposit,  to  be  called  for  whenever  they  liked,  or  for  trans- 
portation to  Melbourne.  I  presume  you  already  know 
about  the  bushrangers  and  how  they  used  to  plunder  the 
homeward-bound  miners." 

"Were  the  early  miners  successful  in  finding  large 
deposits  of  gold  ?  "  one  of  the  youths  asked. 

"  The  question  is  a  difficult  one  to  answer  directly/' 
was  the  reply.  "  A  great  mam-  were  successful,  but,  on 
the  other  hand,  a  great  many  had  very  poor  luck  in  the 
mines    and   hardly  succeeded    in    making    a   bare    living. 


l8o  THE  LAND  OF  THE  KANGAROO. 

We  always  hear  of  the  rich  finds  in  the  mining  district, 
but  rarely  of  the  many  failures.  This  has  always  been 
the  case  in  gold  mining  the  world  over,  and  Ballarat  and 
the  region  around  it  were  no  exception  to  the  rule.  I  will 
tell  you  of  some  of  the  rich  discoveries,  and  leave  you  to 
remember  that  the  fortunate  miners  were  in  small  number 
compared  to  the  unfortunate  ones.  It  may  be  safely  said 
that  the  early  yield  of  the  Ballarat  mines  exceeded  that  of 
the  best  days  of  California. 

"  Some  claims  eight  feet  square  yielded,  each  of  them, 
from  fifty  thousand  to  sixty  thousand  dollars.  One  mine, 
which  was  owned  by  several  men  in  common,  was  worked 
about  four  months  and  yielded  eighty  thousand  dollars  to 
each  man.  One  tubful  of  earth  which  was  taken  from 
the  bottom  of  a  claim  where  the  bed  rock  was  scraped 
yielded  nearly  ten  thousand  dollars,  and  one  claim  which 
was  supposed  to  have  been  worked  out,  and  was  aban- 
doned, was  again  taken  up  by  two  men  who  obtained 
forty  thousand  dollars  from  it  in  two  weeks.  Up  to  the 
present  time  it  is  estimated  that  very  nearly  two  billion 
dollars'  worth  of  gold  have  been  taken  out  of  Australian 
mines." 

Ned  asked  in  what  shape  the  gold  was  found ;  that 
is,  was  it  in  large  pieces  or  small  ones,  fine  dust  or 
nuggets? 

"  It  embraced  everything  between  the  large  nugget  and 
fine  dust  or  flakes,"  the  gentleman  replied.  "A  great 
deal  of  the  gold  was  in  little  lumps  like  bird  shot ;  a  great 
deal  of  it  was  in  scales,  and  then,  again,  it  took  the  shape 
of  dust  so  fine  that  the  particles  were  almost  invisible  to 


GEELONG.  l8l 

the  naked  e)'e.  Nuggets  the  size  of  hens'  eggs  were  not 
very  unusual,  while  those  the  size  of  pigeons'  and  spar- 
rows' eggs  were  much  more  numerous.  The  great  nug- 
gets were  the  ones  most  sought  for,  and  of  course  they 
were  the  rarest  found. 

"  One  nugget,  resembling  in  shape  and  size  a  leg  of 
mutton,  and  weighing  one  hundred  and  thirty-five  pounds, 
was  found  a  long  distance  below  the  surface,  where  some 
miners  were  tunneling  to  reach  the  bed  rock  ;  and  another 
nugget  was  found  in  such  a  remarkable  way  that  I  must 
tell  you  the  story  of  it. 

"A  man  who  was  wandering  about  the  scrub  in  the 
neighborhood  of  Ballarat  one  day,  sat  down  at  the  foot  of 
a  tree  to  rest.  While  sitting  there  he  took  out  his  knife 
to  cut  a  stick,  and  finding  the  knife  was  dull,  he  pro- 
ceeded to  sharpen  it  bv  rubbing  it  upon  a  stone  that  lay 
almost  completely  imbedded  in  the  ground.  As  he  rubbed, 
he  found  that  the  surface  of  the  stone  became  yellow.  He 
was  greatly  surprised  at  this,  and  then  he  dug  around  the 
stone  with  his  knife,  scraping  it  in  several  places,  and 
then  trying  to  lift  it.  He  might  as  well  have  tried  to  lift 
a  horse.  Do  what  he  could,  he  could  not  budge  it  an 
inch,  and  for  a  good  reason,  as  it  was  a  mass  of  solid 
gold. 

"He  felt  his  head  swimming  and  his  wits  leaving  him. 
He  pinched  his  cheeks  and  pulled  his  ears  to  make  sure 
that  he  was  not  dreaming.  Here  he  was  with  a  fortune 
in  his  possession  and  he  could  not  move  it !  Then  he 
sat  down  again  and  wondered  what  was  best  to  do. 

"  Even  if  he  could  move  it  and  started  for  the  camp,  he 


Ib2  THE  LAND  OF  THE  KANGAROO. 

might  be  robbed  before  he  got  there,  as  bushrangers  in- 
fested the  country,  and  he  was  just  as  liable  to  come  upon 
them  as  upon  honest  men.  He  could  not  stay  and  watch 
it,  as  he  had  no  provisions ;  and  he  was  afraid  to  leave  it, 
for  fear  that  somebody  might  come  upon  it  during  his 
absence.  But  there  was  no  help  for  it,  as  leave  it  he 
must,  and  after  thinking  the  matter  over  he  acted  about 
as  sensibly  as  he  could  have  done. 

"He  covered  the  nugget  up  very  carefully,  replacing 
the  earth  and  sprinkling  it  with  leaves  so  that  there  was 
no  indication  that  the  spot  had  been  disturbed.  Then  he 
stripped  the  shirt  from  his  back  and  tied  it  to  a  neighbor- 
ing tree,  wisely  concluding  that  it  was  not  judicious  to 
hang  the  garment  on  the  tree  beneath  which  he  had  sat. 
Then,  on  his  way  out  of  the  scrub,  he  marked  the  trees 
here  and  there  so  that  he  could  find  the  place  again,  and 
as  soon  as  he  was  in  sight  of  the  diggings  he  went  straight 
to  the  tent  of  the  gold  commissioner  and  told  the  story 
of  his  discovery.  The  commissioner  immediately  sent 
the  man  back  again  with  a  strong  escort  to  secure  the 
valuable  find.  The  man  received  for  the  nugget,  after 
deducting  all  charges  and  commissions,  the  sum  of  fifty- 
one  thousand  dollars. 

"A  great  many  fortunes  were  taken  out  of  the  earth 
around  Ballarat  before  the  placer  mines  were  exhausted. 
The  news  of  the  discovery  of  gold  in  Australia  spread  to 
other  countries,  and  thousands  of  people  came  from  all 
parts  of  the  world  to  search  for  it.  Nearly  every  nation- 
ality was  represented,  and  they  came  in  great  numbers. 
Just  before  the  gold  discovery  there  were  seventy-seven 


GEELONG.  lS3 

thousand  inhabitants  in  the  colony  of  Victoria.  The 
population  doubled  in  a  single  year,  and  three  years  after 
the  discovery  the  colony  had  two  hundred  and  thirty-six 
thousand  inhabitants.  The  gold  rush  properly  ended 
when  the  placer  mines  were  exhausted,  although  in  the 
meantime  new  mines  had  been  discovered  in  several 
localities,  principally  at  Bendigo  and  Castlemaine.  Bal- 
larat  was  nearly  deserted  for  a  time  after  the  placer  min- 
ing gave  out,  and  the  same  was  the  case  at  the  other 
places  mentioned.  Then  the  reefs  and  ledges  were  at- 
tacked: crushing  machinery  was  erected,  and  the  form 
of  work  which  you  call  quartz  mining  in  America  had  its 
beginning.  It  has  gone  on  steadily  ever  since  and  gives 
employment  to  a  great  many  people.  It  also  employs  a 
great  deal  of  money,  as  quartz  mining  requires  capital, 
while  placer  mining  does  not.  To  get  a  fortune  by  quartz 
mining  vou  must  have  a  fortune  to  begin  with,  while  in 
placer  mining  you  need  nothing  more  than  a  pick  and 
shovel. 

"Australia  will  continue  to  produce  gold  for  a  great 
many  years  to  come,"  the  gentleman  continued.  "New 
discoveries  are  made  almost  every  year,  and  in  some  years 
half  a  dozen  fields  will  be  opened.  The  government  has 
changed  its  tactics  in  regard  to  gold  discoveries.  It  re- 
warded Hargreaves  and  Esmond  for  their  discoveries  in 
1 85 1,  and  it  has  rewarded  the  discoveries  of  other  gold 
fields.  Most  of  the  colonial  governments  have  a  stand- 
ing offer  of  a  handsome  pecuniary  reward  to  anybody 
who  discovers  a  gold  field,  provided  there  are  not  fewer 
than  two  hundred  men  working  in  that  field  six  months 


184  THE  LAND  OF  THE  KANGAROO. 

after  its  discovery.  This,  you  see,  bars  out  all  those  finds 
that  are  exhausted  in  a  few  weeks,  which  is  the  case  with 
the  majority  of  them. 

"  Every  little  while  there  is  an  excitement  over  a  new 
discovery,  companies  are  formed  for  working  the  mines, 
and  their  stock  is  placed  on  the  market.  It  is  safe  to  say 
that,  in  the  majority  of  instances,  more  money  is  made  by 
shrewd  speculators  in  Melbourne  and  Sydney  manipulat- 
ing the  stock  than  is  taken  from  the  mines.  A  few  years 
ago  there  was  a  wild  speculation  in  mines  in  what  is  called 
the  "Broken  Hill"  district  of  Victoria,  and  at  present 
there  is  an  excitement  about  gold  discoveries  in  Western 
Australia.  According  to  the  latest  accounts  from  the  last- 
named  region,  there  is  a  difficulty  in  working  the  mines 
there  on  account  of  the  scarcity  of  water.  You  cannot 
work  a  mine  any  more  than  you  can  run  a  steam-engine 
without  water,  and  many  people  have  paid  very  dearly  to 
ascertain  this  fact." 

From  Ballarat  our  friends  went  to  Sandhurst,  which 
was  formerly  called  Bendigo.  They  found  there  a  min- 
ing region  resembling  Ballarat  in  its  general  features,  but 
not  in  all  of  them.  At  Ballarat  the  mines  are  not  in  the 
town  but  in  its  suburbs,  while  at  Sandhurst  they  are 
directly  in  the  town  itself.  One  of  the  residents  remarked 
that  there  was  a  gold  mine  in  every  back  yard,  and  our 
friends  found  that  this  was  not  very  far  from  the  truth. 

Mining  operations  were  carried  on  in  the  rear  or  by  the 
side  of  the  houses,  and  it  was  said  that  sometimes  the  dust 
of  the  streets  was  gathered  up  and  washed  to  obtain  the 
gold  in  it.     An  individual  who  certainly  appeared  credible, 


GEELONG.  185 

said  that  the  first  brick  house  ever  built  in  Bendigo  was 
torn  down  and  the  bricks  crushed  in  order  to  obtain  the 
gold  in  them;  this  gold  amounted  to  three  ounces  per  ton, 
and  not  only  the  house  but  its  chimney  yielded  handsomely 
of  the  precious  metal. 

Bendigo  yielded  enormously  to  the  placer  miners  of  the 
early  days.  When  the  placer  mines  were  exhausted  the 
place  was  nearly  deserted,  and  then  came  the  era  of  quartz 
mining  the  same  as  at  Ballarat.  Thousands  of  men  are 
employed  at  Sandhurst  and  in  its  neighborhood,  working 
in  the  gold  mines  or  in  the  crushing  establishments  con- 
nected with  them.  The  quartz  mines  thus  give  employ- 
ment to  a  great  number  of  people.  Some  of  the  mines 
have  been  pushed  to  a  great  depth,  one  of  them  being 
twenty-six  hundred  feet  below  the  surface.  There  seems 
to  be  an  inexhaustible  supply  of  gold-bearing  rock,  and  it 
is  a  common  saying  in  Victoria  that  a  true  ledge  has  never 
been  exhausted. 

Harry  made  some  inquiries  as  to  the  amount  of  gold 
annually  produced  in  Victoria,  and  learned  that  it  was  not 
far  from  five  million  pounds  sterling,  or  twenty-five  million 
dollars.  He  was  further  told  that  the  cost  of  production 
amounted  to  very  nearly  the  same  figure  ;  that  is,  includ- 
ing the  cost  of  the  mining  machinery,  the  wages  of 
laborers,  and  the  many  other  expenses.  It  was  admitted 
that  the  best  mines  showed  a  fair  profit  on  the  investment, 
but  not  enough  to  make  a  fortune  in  a  short  time. 

The  youths  came  to  the  conclusion  that  gold  mining 
had  been  most  profitable  to  the  people  that  never  engaged 
in  it.      In  this  number  he  included  the  brokers,  bankers, 


l86  THE  LAND  OF  THE  KANGAROO. 

storekeepers,  farmers,  and  others  who  kept  out  of  the 
actual  business  of  digging  gold  but  profited  by  their  deal- 
ings with  those  who  were  engaged  in  it.  Nothing  so 
delights  the  owner  of  a  large  farm  in  Australia  as  to  learn 
of  a  gold  discovery  a  few  miles  from  his  place.  He 
knows  that  it  will  give  him  a  good  market  for  all  he  has 
to  sell,  though  there  may  be  occasional  thefts  from  his 
horse  or  cattle  paddocks.  Traders  of  all  kinds  get  an 
enormous  profit  at  the  mines,  and  as  for  the  brokers  and 
bankers,  there  is  no  doubt  of  their  ability  to  take  care  of 
themselves. 

When  Harry  made  the  remark  contained  in  the  fore- 
going paragraph,  Ned  said  that  it  reminded  him  of  a  story. 

"Well,  please  tell  it,"  said  Dr.  Whitney;  "we  are 
always  ready  for  good  stories." 

Thus  encouraged,  Ned  spoke  as  follows  :  — 

"  I  was  reading  a  day  or  two  ago  about  a  man  who  had 
a  large  cattle  run  in  a  part  of  Australia  where  he  had  been 
for  several  years  without  any  near  neighbors.  Gold  was 
discovered  about  ten  miles  from  his  place,  and  a  good 
many  people  flocked  there.  The  gold  mines  furnished  an 
excellent  market  for  his  beef  and  for  all  the  vegetables 
he  chose  to  grow  on  his  place ;  but,  on  the  other  hand,  he 
suffered  somewhat  by  the  depredations  of  lawless  charac- 
ters. Horse  stealing  seemed  to  be  the  popular  amusement 
among  the  people  at  the  mines,  and  quite  often  horses 
disappeared  from  the  estate  and  were  never  seen  again. 

"But  they  had  one  horse,  called  Stepney,  that  was  a 
perfect  treasure.  He  was  kept  for  carriage  purposes  and 
would  never  let  anybody  mount  on  his  back.      He  would 


GEELONG.  187 

stand  perfectly  still  while  being  saddled,  and  while  any- 
thing was  being  attached  to  the  saddle,  but  the  instant 
anybody  got  on  his  back  he  was  thrown,  and  there  was 
not  a  rider  in  Australia  who  could  stay  in  the  saddle  more 
than  a  few  seconds. 

v-  About  once  in  a  fortnight  Stepney  would  be  missing 
from  the  paddock,  but  he  always  turned  up  in  a  day  or 
two,  and  almost  invariably  with  a  saddle  on  his  back, 
generally  a  new  one,  and  a  miner's  '  swag  '  attached  to  it, 
and  on  most  of  the  occasions  the  swag  contained  a  goodly 
amount  of  gold.  Once  he  came  back  with  a  brand  new 
saddle  and  six  hundred  dollars'  worth  of  gold,  which 
nobody  ever  came  to  claim.  The  owner  said  that  Step- 
ney was  the  most  profitable  horse  he  ever  owned.  He 
paid  for  himself  several  times  over,  and  whenever  they  ran 
short  of  saddles,  all  they  had  to  do  was  to  use  Stepney 
as  a  trap  and  'set'  him  in  the  paddock,  with  entire  con- 
fidence that  he  would  catch  a  saddle  within  a  day  or 
two." 

"  That  recalls  a  story  about  the  way  the  miners  used  to 
try  to  deceive  the  bushrangers,"  said  the  doctor;  "  I  refer 
particularly  to  those  who  were  on  their  way  to  the  coast 
with  gold  in  their  possession.  They  used  to  bore  holes 
in  the  shafts  or  frames  of  their  carts  and  conceal  the  <£old 
in  these  holes,  and  sometimes  they  managed  to  hide  quan- 
tities of  gold  dust  between  the  inner  and  outer  soles  of 
their  boots.  One  miner  took  the  padding  out  of  his  horse's 
collar  and  inserted  eighty  ounces  of  gold  in  the  hollow. 
He  jogged  along  the  road  to  Melbourne,  suffering  a  good 
deal  of  trepidation  at  first,  but  finally  arrived  within  twenty 


l88  THE    L.AND    OF    THE    KANGAROO. 

miles  of  the  city  with  his  treasure,  and  began  to  feel 
safe. 

"While  he  was  driving  slowly  along  with  his  cart  he 
was  overtaken  by  a  man  on  horseback,  who  explained 
that  he  was  in  a  hurry,  as  the  police  were  after  him  for  a 
fight  he  had  been  concerned  in  with  another  man.  His 
horse  was  exhausted  and  he  would  give  the  miner  ten 
pounds  to  exchange  horses. 

"As  the  animals  were  of  about  equal  value,  the  miner 
assented  and  proceeded  to  unharness  his  horse.  When 
he  took  off  the  collar  the  other  man  seized  it,  put  it  on 
his  horse  and  jumped  into  the  saddle,  which  he  had  not 
removed ;  then  he  rode  away,  to  the  astonishment  of  the 
angry  miner,  waving  his  hand  and  saying  by  way  of 
farewell :  — 

"  'The  collar  is  all  I  wanted,  friend.  I  don't  care  to 
make  any  horse  trade  now.' 

"  You  are  doubtless  aware,"  said  their  Ballarat  friend, 
"  of  the  operations  of  the  bushrangers,  and  how  the  police 
used  sometimes  to  torture  those  that  they  captured  in  order 
to  make  them  reveal  the  secret  of  the  hiding  place  of  their 
gold.  They  tell  a  story  of  a  fight  between  a  gang  of 
bushrangers  and  the  police  in  which  the  leader  of 
the  robbers,  known  as  '  Kangaroo  Jack,'  was  mortally 
wounded.  He  was  lying  on  the  ground  dying ;  there 
could  be  no  mistake  about  that.  The  police  captain,  I 
will  call  him  Smith,  but  that  wasn't  his  name,  sat  down  by 
his  side  and  said  :  — 

"  '  Come,  Jack,  you  are  going  to  die  and  there  is  no  help 
for  you.      Tell  me  where  your  gold  is.' 


GEELOXG.  189 

"'I  won't  do  it,' replied  Jack.  'I  won't  tell  you  or 
anybody  else  ! ' 

"  Smith  pressed  him,  but  Jack  was  obstinate.  Smith 
continued  to  urge  and  Jack  to  refuse  until  death  sealed  the 
bandit's  lips. 

"  Smith  was  afterward  telling  the  story  to  one  of  his 
fellow-officers,  and  remarked  in  conclusion :  — 

"  <  I  think  it  was  downright  mean  of  Jack  that  he 
wouldn't  tell  me  where  his  gold  was.  I  know  he  had  at 
least  fifty  thousand  dollars'  worth  stowed  away  somewhere. 
He  knew  he  couldn't  take  it  with  him,  and  it  couldn't  do 
him  any  good,  and  it  would  have  been  a  very  tidy  sum 
for  me.  He  couldn't  have  any  personal  ill-will  to  me,  as 
I  didn't  shoot  him  myself.  I  think  it  was  downright 
mean,  don't  you?  ' 

"His  friend  agreed  with  him,  and  no  doubt  he  would 
have  been  willing  to  share  the  plunder  if  it  could  have 
been  found." 


CHAPTER   XII. 

A    SOUTHERLY    BURSTER WESTERN    VICTORIA. 

THE  day  after  their  return  to  Melbourne,  our  friends 
were  treated  to  an  entertainment  which,  as  Harry 
said,  "  was  not  down  on  the  bills."  It  was  what  the  Mel- 
bourneites  called  a  "  southerly  burster,"  a  storm  which 
is  peculiar  to  Australia,  and  particularly  to  the  southern 
portion  of  it.  They  had  already  experienced  showers 
of  such  force  that  the  gutters  of  the  streets  were  filled 
to  a  depth  of  a  foot  and  more,  and  sometimes  the  whole 
street  was  covered.  Most  of  the  street  crossings  are 
bridged  so  that  the  water  can  run  away  with  comparative 
ease. 

The  water  at  such  times  flows  with  terrific  force.  Men 
attempting  to  cross  the  gutters,  who  make  a  misstep,  are 
lifted  off  their  feet  and  are  instantly  swept  down  by  the 
current,  and  in  case  they  should  be  carried  under  one  of 
the  crossings  they  are  liable  to  be  drowned. 

We  will  listen  to  Harry  as  he  described  in  his  journal 
their  experience  with  a  southerly  burster. 

'•When  we  arose  in  the  morning,"  said  Harry,  "the 
weather  was  delightful  and  we  thought  it  would  be  a  fine 
day  for  an  excursion.  There  was  not  a  cloud  in  the  sky 
and  the  breeze  was  blowing  from  the  northeast.  A 
barometer  hung    in    the    hallway    of  the  hotel,    and    Dr. 

Whitney  remarked,   as  he  came  out  from  breakfast,  that 

190 


A    SOUTHERLY    BURSTER.  191 

it  was  falling  rapidly.  A  gentleman  who  was  standing 
by  his  side  heard  the  remark  and  said  :  — 

"  'I  think  we  are  going  to  have  a  burster;  that  is  the 
way  it  usually  begins.  If  you  have  any  engagements  to 
go  out  to-day  and  they  are  not  absolutely  imperative,  you 
had  better  postpone  them.' 

"Ned  and  I  overheard  what  he  said  and  wondered  what 
a  burster  was.  We  said  nothing,  however,  as  we  expected 
to  find  out  by  practical  experience. 

"All  through  the  forenoon  the  barometer  continued  to 
fall.  The  sky  remained  clear  until  a  little  past  noon,  and 
the  wind  blew  gently  from  the  northeast  as  before.  Sud- 
denly we  saw  a  white  cloud  rolling  up  from  the  northeast 
and  spreading  over  the  heavens  until  they  were  completely 
covered.  Masses  of  dust  came  with  the  wind,  which  in- 
creased in  force  for  a  time  and  then  lulled  a  little. 

"  Suddenly  the  wind  went  around  to  the  south  and  blew 
a  gale,  ves,  a  hurricane.  It  started  off  at  about  thirty 
miles  an  hour,  but  before  it  ended  its  visit  it  was  blowing 
fully  seventy  miles  an  hour,  at  least  that  is  what  the  papers 
said  next  day.  I  am  told  it  sometimes  reaches  a  velocity 
of  one  hundred  miles  an  hour,  and  has  even  been  knowr 
to  exceed  one  hundred  and  forty  miles.  These  tremen- 
dous winds  do  a  great  deal  of  damage.  They  drive  ships 
ashore  or  overwhelm  them  at  sea ;  they  devastate  fields 
and  forests  and  level  a  great  many  buildings. 

"The  barometer  fell  rapidly  in  the  forenoon,  as  I  have 
mentioned  ;  it  was  the  thermometer's  turn  in  the  afternoon. 
The  mercury  stood  at  about  ninety  degrees  Fahrenheit 
in  the  middle  of  the   forenoon,  and  it  remained  so  until 


10,2  THE    LAND    OF    THE    KANGAROO. 

the  wind  chopped  around  to  the  south.  An  hour  after  the 
change  of  wind  it  stood  at  seventy  degrees,  and  an  hour 
later  at  fifty.  I  am  told  that  it  sometimes  drops  thirty 
degrees  in  half  an  hour,  but  such  occurrences  are  un- 
usual. 

"  This  is  a  good  place  to  say  that  sudden  changes  in 
the  temperature  are  very  common  in  Australia,  and  that 
the  change  from  midday  to  midnight  is  far  greater  than 
any  to  which  we  are  accustomed  in  the  United  States. 
When  we  have  a  change  of  twenty  or  thirty  degrees  in  a 
single  day  we  regard  it  as  unusual.  What  would  you 
say  to  one  hundred  and  ten  degrees  at  noon  and  fifty 
degrees  at  midnight?  This  is  quite  common  in  the  in- 
terior of  Australia  and  not  at  all  infrequent  on  the  coast. 

"  The  thermometer  runs  very  high  in  this  country,  and  it 
is  not  at  all  rare  for  it  to  indicate  one  hundred  and  twenty- 
five  or  one  hundred  and  thirty  degrees  Fahrenheit.  One 
traveler  has  a  record  of  one  hundred  and  thirty-nine  de- 
grees in  the  shade  and  one  hundred  and  seventy-two  in 
the  sun.  I  am  told  that  in  South  Melbourne  the  ther- 
mometer once  made  an  official  record  of  one  hundred  and 
eleven  degrees  in  the  shade  and  one  hundred  and  seventy- 
nine  degrees  in  the  sun. 

"  So  great  is  the  heat  of  the  sun  at  midday  that  trav- 
elers generally  try  to  avoid  it  if  they  can  do  so.  It  is 
the  plan  of  most  people  who  travel  on  horseback,  in 
wagons,  or  on  foot,  to  start  before  daylight,  and  keep 
going  until  nine  or  ten  o'clock.  Then  they  halt  and 
rest  until  three  or  four  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  when 
they  move  on  and  continue  until  late  in  the  evening.     Of 


A    SOUTHERLY    BURSTER. 


93 


course,  the  railways  are  not  run  on  that  principle,  as  the 
locomotive  is  not  supposed  to  be  affected  by  the  outside 
temperature. 

"But  I  am  getting  away  from  the  southerly  burster. 
The  wind  blew  like  a  hurricane.  It  kept  up  this  rate  for 
about  three  hours,  filling  the  air  with  dust  so  that  we 
could  not  see  across  the  street.  Though  the  doors  and 
windows  were  tightly  closed,  the  dust  found  its  way  in- 
side the  house  and  was  present  everywhere ;  every  article 
of  furniture  was  covered  with  it. 

"  We  found  it  in  the  food,  we  found  it  in  our  beds,  and 
the  next  day  when  I  opened  my  trunk  to  take  out  some 
articles  of  clothing,  I  actually  found  that  the  dust  had 
worked  its  way  inside  in  a  perceptible  quantity.  One  of 
the  waiters  of  the  hotel  said,  that  always  after  a  burster 
they  found  dust  inside  of  bottles  of  mineral  water  which 
had  been  tightly  corked  up  to  the  time  of  opening.  I  am 
inclined  to  doubt  the  truth  of  his  assertion,  particularly  as 
he  offered  no  documentary  evidence  to  confirm  it. 

"Along  towards  night  it  came  on  to  rain,  and,  oh,  how 
it  did  rain  !  It  poured  as  though  the  flood  gates  of  the 
skies  had  all  been  opened  at  once.  It  rained  not  only 
cats  and  dogs,  as  the  old  expression  has  it,  but  lizards, 
scorpions,  snakes,  and  I  don't  know  what  else,  at  least  it 
did  figuratively.  The  gutters  of  the  streets  were  filled, 
and  then  we  were  able  to  see  how  easy  it  was  for  a  man, 
and  especially  for  a  child,  to  be  drowned  in  them.  I  have 
seen  it  rain  hard  in  a  good  many  places,  but  am  sure  I 
never  saw  it  rain  harder  than  it  did  at  the  end  of  that 
southerly  burster. 


194  THE  LAND  OF  THE  KANGAROO. 

"  I  remarked  as  much  to  a  gentleman  whose  acquaint- 
ance we  had  made  in  the  hotel,  and  he  answered :  — 

"  '  Oh,  nonsense.     That  is  no  rain  at  all.' 

"'  No  rain  at  all,'  I  answered.  'Do  you  have  worse 
rains  than  this  in  Australia  ?  ' 

"  '  Why,  certainly  we  do,'  he  replied.  '  I  have  known 
it  to  rain  so  hard  that  this  would  be  a  sprinkle  by  com- 
parison. I  remember  the  25th  of  February,  1873,  when 
nine  inches  of  rain  fell  here  in  Melbourne  inside  of  nine 
hours.  An  inch  of  rain  in  an  hour  is  a  good  deal,  isn't 
it?' 

"  Ned  and  I  admitted  that  it  was,  and  then  our  inform- 
ant continued  :  — 

"  '  I  happened  to  be  in  Newcastle  early  in  187 1,  when 
they  had  the  greatest  rainfall  that  I  ever  saw  or  heard  of 
in  any  country.  In  less  than  three  hours  ten  and  a  half 
inches  of  rain  fell,  and  the  story  was  that  it  was  so  thick 
that  the  fishes  in  the  harbor  could  not  distinguish  between 
the  rain  cloud  and  the  bay,  and  actually  swam  up  half  a 
mile  or  so  into  the  air.  One  man  said  that  he  had  a 
barrel  with  both  ends  knocked  out,  and  the  rain  went  in  at 
the  bung  hole  faster  than  it  could  run  out  at  the  ends.' 

"  I  asked  the  gentleman  how  long  the  storm  lasted,  and 
he  said  that  twenty-one  hours  elapsed  between  the  begin- 
ning and  the  end  of  it,  and  during  that  time  twrenty  inches 
of  water  fell,  and  the  streets  of  Newcastle  were  like  small 
rivers. 

"The  gentleman  remarked,  in  conclusion,  that  it  was  a 
great  pity  the  rainfall  was  not  distributed  more  evenly, 
both  in  time  and  amount,  than  it  is.     Some   parts  of  the 


A    SOUTHERLY    BURSTER.  I95 

coast  get  a  great  deal  more  rain  than  they  have  any  use 
for.  The  floods  destroy  a  large  amount  of  property,  and 
the  superfluous  rain  flows  away  in  the  rivers,  inundating 
large  areas  of  ground  and  doing  more  harm  than  good, 
but  through  the  greater  part  of  the  interior  the  rainfall  is 
far  less  than  the  land  requires.  The  ground  becomes 
parched,  the  streets  dry  up,  and  the  grasses  wither,  and 
the  whole  face  of  nature  presents  a  scene  of  sterilitv. 
Sometimes  there  is  no  rain  for  long  periods.  There  have 
been  times  when  not  a  drop  of  rain  fell  for  two  years,  and 
but  for  the  heavy  dews  at  night,  a  vast  extent  of  land 
would  have  been  absolutely  turned  to  a  desert.  Cattle  and 
sheep  perished  by  the  million,  of  starvation  and  thirst. 
The  production  of  grain  fell  off  enormously  and  the  whole 
country  was  very  seriously  affected. 

"  Xed  asked  if  no  remedy  had  ever  been  found  or  pro- 
posed for  this  state  of  affairs. 

"A  remedy  had  been  suggested,  said  the  gentleman, 
which  would  save  herds  of  cattle  and  flocks  of  sheep, 
but  it  would  not  save  from  destruction  the  crops  in  the 
fields. 

"  '  What  is  that?  '  Ned  asked. 

"  '  It  is  a  system  of  storing  water  throughout  the  inte- 
rior of  the  country  so  as  to  save  the  precious  fluid  when 
the  rainfall  is  excessive.  There  are  many  places,  great 
numbers  of  them,  where  nature  has  so  formed  the  ground 
that  the  storage  of  water  would  be  comparatively  easy.  I 
have  already  begun  it  on  my  sheep  run,  and  other  sheep 
owners  have  done  the  same  thing.  It  is  an  expensive 
work,  but  I  believe  it  will  pay  in  the  end.' 


196  THE  LAND  OF  THE  KANGAROO. 

"  '  There  are  three  places  on  my  land  where  broad  val- 
leys terminate  at  their  lower  ends  between  hills  forty  or 
fifty  feet  high.  Now,  by  building  a  dam  from  one  of 
these  hills  to  the  other,  I  can  flood  any  one  of  these  valleys 
to  any  depth  I  choose  up  to  the  height  of  the  hills.  It 
was  only  recently  that  I  finished  work  at  one  of  these 
places,  and  I  have  gangs  of  men  busy  with  the  other  two. 
For  the  present  I  shall  make  my  dams  thirty  feet  high,  and 
this  will  give  me  at  each  of  the  three  places  a  lake  of 
fresh  water  with  about  forty  acres  of  surface  area.  If  I 
can  fill  these  lakes  every  winter  with  water,  I  think  I  will 
have  enough  to  keep  my  sheep  through  the  dry  season, 
after  making  liberal  allowance  for  loss  by  evaporation  and 
in  other  ways.  Of  course,  such  a  system  of  storing  water 
is  only  practicable  where  the  owner  of  a  place  has  suffi- 
cient capital  for  the  purpose.  The  poor  man,  with  his 
small  flock  of  sheep,  can  hardly  undertake  it.' 

"  '  Preliminary  surveys  have  been  made  in  places  where 
it  is  proposed  that  the  colonial  governments  should  build 
extensive  works  for  saving  water  on  a  grand  scale.  The 
government  would  be  repaid,  in  part  at  least,  by  selling 
the  water  to  private  landholders  in  the  same  way  that 
water  is  sold  in  California,  New  Mexico,  and  other  parts 
of  the  United  States.  I  am  confident  that  you  will  see  a 
grand  system  of  water  storage  in  full  operation  in  Aus- 
tralia before  many  years.'  " 

While  on  the  subject  of  rainfall,  Harry  asked  Ned  if  he 
knew  where  the  heaviest  annual  rainfall  in  the  world  was. 

Ned  said  he  did  not  know,  but  he  thought  that  Dr. 
Whitney  might  be  able  to  inform  them. 


A    SOUTHERLY    BURSTER.  197 

The  question  was  appealed  to  the  doctor,  who  paused 
a  moment,  and  then  said  that  "  what  might  be  considered 
a  heavy  rain  in  one  place  would  be  a  light  one  in  another. 
In  Great  Britain,  if  an  inch  of  rain  fell  in  a  day  it  was  con- 
sidered a  heavy  rain  ;  but  in  many  parts  of  the  Highlands 
of  Scotland  three  inches  not  infrequently  fall  in  one  day. 
Once  in  the  isle  of  Sieve  twelve  inches  of  rain  fell  in  thir- 
teen hours,  and  rainfalls  of  live  and  seven  inches  are  not 
uncommon.  Thirty  inches  of  rain  fell  in  twenty-four 
hours  at  Geneva,  in  Switzerland,  thirty-three  inches  at 
Gibraltar  in  twenty-six  hours,  and  twenty-four  inches  in 
a  single  night  on  the  hills  near  Bombav. 

"The  heaviest  annual  rainfall  on  the  globe,"  continued 
the  doctor,  "  was  on  the  Khasia  Hills,  in  India,  where  six 
hundred  inches,  or  fifty  feet,  fell  in  a  twelvemonth.  Just 
think  of  it;  a  depth  of  fifty  feet  of  water  yearly,  and  of 
this  amount  five  hundred  inches  fell  in  seven  months,  dur- 
ing the  southwest  monsoons." 

"How  do  they  account  for  such  heavy  rains?"  Ned 
asked. 

"  It  is  accounted  for,"  the  doctor  replied,  "  by  the  abrupt- 
ness of  the  mountains  which  face  the  Bay  of  Bengal,  from 
which  they  are  separated  by  low  swamps  and  marshes. 
The  winds  arrive  among  the  hills  heavily  charged  with 
the  vapor  they  have  absorbed  from  the  wide  expanse  of 
the  Indian  Ocean.  When  they  strike  the  hills  and  are 
forced  up  to  a  higher  elevation,  they  give  out  their  moist- 
ure with  great  rapidity,  and  the  rain  falls  in  torrents.  As 
soon  as  the  clouds  have  crossed  the  mountains  the  rain 
diminishes  very  much.       Twenty  miles  further  inland  it 


I98  THE  LAND  OF  THE  KANGAROO. 

drops  from  six  hundred  to  two  hundred  inches  annually, 
and  thirty  miles  further  inland  it  is  only  one  hundred 
inches.  The  same  conditions  prevail  to  a  certain  extent 
in  Australia.  The  mountain  chains  are  near  the  coast. 
On  the  side  next  the  ocean  there  is  a  liberal  rainfall,  but 
on  the  other  side,  towards  the  interior,  the  rainfall  is  light. 
As  the  clouds  charged  with  vapor  come  from  the  sea  to 
the  mountains  they  yield  their  moisture  freely,  but,  after 
passing  the  mountains,  they  have  little  left  to  yield." 

The  burster  died  away  along  in  the  evening,  and, 
though  the  streets  were  wet  in  many  places,  our  friends 
went  out  for  a  stroll.  During  their  walk  their  attention 
was  naturally  drawn  to  the  sky,  which  was  now  bright 
with  stars.  Naturally,  their  conversation  turned  to  the 
difference  between  the  night  skies  of  the  Northern  and 
Southern  Hemispheres,  which  had  not  escaped  their  obser- 
vation during  their  voyage  from  the  east  coast  of  Africa 
down  to  the  Equator,  and  thence  in  the  Southern  Ocean. 
On  this  subject  Harry  wrote  at  one  time  in  his  journal  as 
follows  :  — 

"  We  found  the  famous  Southern  Cross  a  good  deal  of 
a  disappointment.  In  the  first  place,  it  requires  a  con- 
siderable amount  of  imagination  to  make  a  cross  out  of 
it ;  very  much  more  than  is  needed  to  make  '  The  Great 
Dipper '  out  of  the  constellation  so  called  in  the  Northern 
Hemisphere.  The  Southern  Cross  consists  of  three  stars 
of  the  first  magnitude,  one  of  the  fourth  magnitude,  and 
three  of  the  fifth,  and,  look  at  them  whichever  way  you 
may,  you  can't  make  a  real  cross  out  of  them,  either 
Greek  or  Roman.       Before  I  investigated  the  subject,   I 


A    SOUTHERLY    BURSTER.  199 

thought  the  Southern  Cross  was  over  the  south  pole,  but 
found  it  is  not  so.  The  constellations  of  the  Southern 
Hemisphere  altogether  are  not  as  brilliant  as  those  in  the 
northern  one.  If  the  principal  object  of  a  traveler  in  this 
region  is  to  see  the  heavens,  he  had  better  stay  at  home. 

"  An  interesting  feature  of  the  southern  heavens  is 
'  The  Magellan  Clouds,'  two  white  spots  in  the  sky  like 
thick  nebulae  of  stars.  They  are  nearer  to  the  pole  than 
the  Southern  Cross  is,  and  are  much  used  by  mariners  in 
taking  observations.  Quite  near  the  pole  is  a  star  of  the 
fifth  magnitude,  called  '  Octantis,'  and  this  also  is  used 
for  observation  purposes.  It  isn't  so  brilliant,  by  any 
means,  as  the  pole  star  of  the  north,  which  is  of  the 
second  magnitude  ;  and,  by  the  way,  that  reminds  me  of 
what  Dr.  Whitney  told  me  in  the  desert  of  Sahara,  that 
what  we  called  the  polar  star  in  the  north  is  not  directly 
over  the  pole,  but  nearly  a  degree  away.  The  real  polar 
star  is  a  much  smaller  one  and  stands,  as  we  look  at 
it,  to  the  left  of  the  star,  which  I  had  always  believed  to 
be  the  proper  one." 

Melbourne  has  a  Chinese  quarter  like  San  Francisco 
and  New  York,  and  our  friends  embraced  an  opportunity 
to  visit  it.  They  found  the  shops  closely  crowded  together 
and  apparentlv  doing  an  active  business.  There  were 
temples,  shops,  and  a  good  many  stores,  some  of  them  very 
small  and  others  of  goodly  size.  The  sidewalks  were 
thronged  with  people,  mostly  Chinese,  and  they  hardly 
raised  their  eyes  to  look  at  the  strangers  who  had  come 
among  them.  Our  friends  took  the  precaution  to  be 
accompanied  by  a  guide,  and  found  that  they  had   acted 


200  THE  LAND  OF  THE  KANGAROO. 

wisely  in  doing  so.  The  guide  took  diem  into  places 
where  they  would  have  been  unable  to  make  their  way- 
alone,  and  where,  doubtless,  they  would  have  found  the 
doors  closed  against  them. 

The  Chinese  are  very  unpopular  in  Australia  and  in  all 
the  colonies.  The  laws  against  them  are  decidedly  severe, 
from  a  Mongolian  point  of  view.  Every  Chinaman  land- 
ing in  Victoria  must  pay  fifty  dollars  for  the  privilege  of 
doing  so,  and  after  getting  safe  on  the  soil  he  finds  him- 
self restricted  in  a  business  way,  and  subject  to  vexatious 
regulations.  John  is  satisfied  with  very  little  and  he 
usually  manages  to  get  it.  He  is  a  keen  trader  and  always 
an  inveterate  smuggler.  He  is  very  skillful  in  evading  the 
custom  house,  and  as  soon  as  one  trick  is  discovered  he 
invents  another  and  his  ingenuity  seems  to  be  boundless. 

One  of  the  industries  in  which  the  Chinese  excel  is  that 
of  market  gardening.  In  driving  in  the  suburbs  of  Mel- 
bourne, our  friends  observed  numerous  market  gardens 
cultivated  by  Chinese,  and  in  every  instance  they  remarked 
that  the  cultivation  was  of  the  most  careful  kind.  John 
can  make  more  out  of  a  garden  than  anybody  else.  He 
pays  a  high  rental  for  his  ground,  but  unless  something 
very  unusual  happens  he  is  pretty  sure  to  get  it  back 
again,  with  a  large  profit  in  addition. 

In  some  of  the  colonies  the  restrictions  are  more  severe 
than  in  others.  In  New  South  Wales  the  laboring  class 
of  white  men  are  politically  in  control  of  the  legislature, 
and  have  enacted  anti-Chinese  laws  of  great  severity.  The 
tax  upon  immigrant  Chinese  in  that  colony  is  one  hundred 
pounds  sterling,  or  five  hundred  dollars.     The  naturaliza- 


A    SOUTHERLY    BURSTER.  201 

tion  of  Chinese  is  absolutely  prohibited,  and  ships  can  only 
bring  into  the  ports  of  New  South  Wales  one  Chinese 
passenger  for  every  three  hundred  tons  of  measurement. 
The  restrictions  in  regard  to  residence  and  trading  are 
very  severe.  The  country  is  laid  out  into  districts,  and 
in  each  district  not  more  than  five  trading  Chinese  are 
allowed  to  live  and  transact  business.  Steamers  and  sail- 
ing vessels  having  Chinese  stewards  or  sailors  on  board 
are  subject  to  seizure  and  fines  on  their  arrival  at  Sydney, 
and  so  great  have  been  the  annoyances  to  this  class  of 
vessels,  that  they  have  been  compelled  to  leave  in  some 
other  port,  before  coming  to  Australia,  all  their  Chinese 
employees. 

The  hostility  to  Chinese  labor  in  Australia  is  similar  to 
that  on  the  Pacific  coast  of  the  United  States,  and  in  the 
States  of  the  Rocky  Mountain  region.  It  will  doubtless 
increase  as  time  goes  on,  as  it  increased  in  the  United 
States,  until  it  culminated  in  the  Chinese  Exclusion  Act 
of  a  few  years  ago.  Eventually,  the  Chinese  in  Aus- 
tralia will  be  shut  out  from  all  occupations,  and  expelled 
or  excluded  from  the  country.  A  good  many  intelligent 
Australians  deprecate  the  hostility  to  the  Chinese,  but 
when  it  comes  to  voting,  this  class  of  citizens  is  in  the 
minority. 

During  a  part  of  the  gold  rush,  great  numbers  of  Chinese 
found  their  way  to  the  mines,  where  they  were  perfectly 
contented  to  work  in  abandoned  mines  and  wash  the  earth, 
which  had  already  been  washed  by  the  white  men.  Owing 
to  the  prejudice  against  them  and  the  likelihood  of  inter- 
ference, they  rarely  took  up  fresh   claims,  but  contented 


202  THE  LAND  OF  THE  KANGAROO. 

themselves  with  what  the  white  man  had  left.  Even  this 
form  of  work  was  considered  an  encroachment  by  the 
white  miners,  who  frequently  attacked  the  Mongolians 
and  drove  them  out  at  the  point  of  the  pistol.  Many  of 
these  attacks  were  accompanied  by  bloodshed,  and  if  the 
history  of  Australian  mining  were  written  in  full,  it  would 
contain  many  a  story  of  oppression,  accompanied  with 
violence. 

Our  friends  made  a  visit  to  the  famous  lake  district  of 
Victoria,  where  they  found  some  very  pretty  scenery,  and 
from  the  summit  of  one  hill  counted  no  fewer  than  fifteen 
lakes,  some  of  them  of  no  great  size,  while  the  largest 
measured  ninety  miles  in  circumference.  Harry  made 
note  of  the  fact  that  this  largest  lake  was  called  the  Dead 
Sea.  It  is  said  to  be  not  as  salt  as  the  famous  Dead  Sea 
near  Jerusalem,  but  it  is  a  great  deal  Salter  than  the  ocean, 
and  no  fish  of  any  kind  lives  in  it. 

"  I  asked  a  resident  of  the  neighborhood,"  said  Harry, 
"  if  they  had  ever  tried  the  plan  of  putting  fish  from  the 
ocean  into  this  Australian  Dead  Sea.  They  said  they 
had  done  so,  but  the  fish  thus  transported  always  died  in 
a  few  hours,  and  the  experiment  of  stocking  the  lake  had 
been  given  up  long  ago. 

"  A  curious  thing  that  we  found  regarding  the  lakes  in 
this  part  of  Victoria,"  Harry  continued,  "is  that  some  of 
them  are  salt  and  some  fresh,  and  sometimes  the  salt  lakes 
and  the  fresh  ones  are  quite  close  to  each  other,  and  on  the 
same  level.  We  were  puzzled  how  to  account  for  the 
peculiarity  and  tried  to  learn  about  it.  How  the  circum- 
stances happened,  nobody  knows  exactly,  but  the  theory  is 


A    SOUTHERLY    BURSTER.  203 

that  the  salt  in  the  salt  lakes  comes  from  the  drainage  of 
the  rocks,  and  as  the  lakes  have  no  outlets,  the  superfluous 
waters  are  carried  off  by  evaporation.  They  told  us  that 
in  summer  these  lakes  sink  a  good  deal  below  the  level 
of  other  times  of  the  year,  and  when  they  did  so  the 
ground  left  dry  was  thickly  encrusted  with  salt,  which  the 
people  gathered  in  large  quantities.  The  market  of  Mel- 
bourne is  supplied  with  salt  from  these  lakes,  and  you  can 
readily  understand  that  it  is  very  cheap. 

"  Another  peculiarity  of  this  part  of  Victoria  is  the  large 
quantities  of  potatoes  that  are  grown  there.  The  land 
often  yields  from  twenty  to  thirty  tons  of  potatoes  to  the 
acre,  and  an  acre  of  ground  for  raising  potatoes  will  fre- 
quently sell  for  four  hundred  dollars,  while  it  will  rent  for 
twenty-five  dollars  yearly.  Most  of  the  coast  ports  of 
Australia,  including  the  great  ones  of  Melbourne,  Ade- 
laide, and  Sydney,  are  supplied  with  potatoes  from  this 
region. 

"  The  potatoes  are  among  the  finest  we  ever  saw.  They 
are  large,  rich,  and  mealy,  and  when  properly  cooked 
they  are  simply  delicious.  No  other  part  of  Australia  can 
compete  with  this  district  in  potato  cultivation.  The 
excellence  of  this  vegetable  is  supposed  to  come  from  the 
volcanic  nature  of  the  soil.  All  the  country  round  here 
was  once  in  a  high  state  of  ebullition,  and  the  lakes  I  have 
mentioned  are  the  craters  of  extinct  volcanoes." 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

JOURNEY  UP  COUNTRY ANECDOTES  OF  BUSH  LIFE. 

OUR  friends  accepted  an  invitation  to  go  up  country  to 
visit  a  cattle  station  and  also  a  sheep  run,  and  to 
spend  a  week  or  so  in  the  bush.  They  went  by  train  as 
far  as  the  railway  could  carry  them,  and  were  met  at  the 
station  by  a  wagon  which  enabled  them  to  finish  their 
journey.  They  arrived  at  the  station  late  in  the  afternoon, 
after  a  delightful  drive  through  the  gum-tree  forest  and 
across  a  small  plain.  It  was  not  strictly  a  plain,  however, 
as  the  ground  was  undulating,  and  in  the  hollows  between 
the  ridges  there  was  generally  a  growth  of  trees  from 
a  quarter  to  a  half  a  mile  in  width  which  broke  the 
monotony  of  the  landscape.  The  road  was  not  the 
smoothest  in  the  world,  and  before  they  had  gone  half 
way  Harry  and  Ned  both  remarked  that  the}'  would  have 
excellent  appetites  for  supper,  and  hoped  that  the  meal 
would  not  be  long  delayed  after  their  arrival  at  the  cattle 
station. 

The  party  received  a  cordial  welcome  from  their  host, 
Mr.  Syme,  who  had  preceded  them  a  day  in  advance  and 
sent  his  younger  brother  to  the  railway  to  meet  them. 
About  half  a  mile  from  the  house  they  saw  three  or  four 
men  lying  on  the  ground  by  the  roadside,  evidently  taking 
a    rest    or    waiting   for    something.     They    reminded   our 

young   friends   of   the   individuals   frequently   seen  in  the 

204 


JOURNEY    UP    COUNTRY.  205 

United  States,  and  known  as  "  tramps,"  and  after  getting 
out  of  earshot  of  the  party  Ned  asked  their  new  acquaint- 
ance, who  was  escorting  them,  what  those  men  were. 

"  Oh  !  those  are  sundowners,"  was  the  reply,  and  then 
there  was  a  pause. 

"  Sundowners  !"  exclaimed  Harry.  "What  is  a  sun- 
downer? " 

"  A  sundowner  is  what  you  call  a  tramp  in  America," 
was  the  reply  ;  "  and  he  gets  his  name  from  one  of  his 
peculiarities.  It  is  the  custom  all  over  Australia  —  I  mean 
in  the  country  districts  —  to  feed  and  lodge  anybody  who 
comes  along,  and  if  he  has  no  money  there  is  no  charge 
for  his  entertainment.  He  is  expected  to  move  on  in  the 
morning  the  first  thing  after  breakfast,  unless  we  happen 
to  have  work  for  him  and  can  give  him  employment  at 
regular  wages.  If  he  comes  along  anywhere  in  the  after- 
noon  before  sunset,  he  is  expected  to  do  an)*  odd  work  that 
may  be  handy  until  supper,  as  a  payment  in  part,  at  least, 
for  his  night's  entertainment. 

••Most  of  these  fellows  don't  like  to  work,"  he  con- 
tinued, "and  so  they  take  good  care  not  to  arrive  at  a 
place  before  sunset.  If  they  find  they  are  getting  too 
near  it,  they  sit  or  lie  down  on  the  ground  and  wait  until 
the  sun  has  disappeared  below  the  horizon.  That  is  why 
we  call  them  sundowners,  as  they  turn  up  just  after  the 
sun  has  gone  down." 

••It  is  certainly  very  liberal  on  the  part  of  the  people  in 
the  country  to  feed  and  lodge  all  comers,"  remarked  Xed. 

"Well,  we  think  it's  not  illiberal.  It  is  the  custom  of 
the   country   which    has   grown   up   from   the   early   days 


206  THE  LAND  OF  THE  KANGAROO. 

when  farms  were  far  apart  and  travelers  were  few  in 
number.  When  the  custom  first  began,  the  number  of 
this  sort  of  travelers  would  not  exceed  a  dozen  in  a  month. 
Nowadays  we  often  lodge  that  number  in  a  single  night, 
and  sometimes  it  is  a  pretty  heavy  tax  on  us.  I  don't 
think  it  will  be  many  years  before  we  have  laws  that  will 
restrict  these  wanderers  somewhat,  just  as  you  have  tramp 
laws  in  many  of  the  States  of  your  Union.  There  is  a 
very  large  number  of  idlers  going  about  the  country 
and  subsisting  in  this  way.  They  always  pretend  to  be 
searching  for  employment,  but  whenever  employment  is 
offered,  it  is  not  the  kind  that  they  want.  They  are  like 
an  American  tramp  I  heard  of  once,  who  was  always 
looking  in  winter  for  a  job  at  hay-making,  and  in  sum- 
mer he  wanted  to  find  employment  at  cutting  ice.  When 
one  of  these  fellows  gets  to  a  sheep  station,  he  says  he 
knows  nothing  about  sheep,  but  understands  everything 
about  cattle  ;  at  the  cattle  station  he  reverses  his  story, 
and  wants  a  job  at  shepherding." 

"  Don't  you  have  trouble  with  them  sometimes?"  one  of 
the  youths  remarked.  "  Are  they  willing  to  accept  what 
you  offer  them,  or  do  they  demand  something  better?  " 

"As  to  that,"  was  the  reply,  "  there  is  a  good  deal  of 
difference  among  them.  "We  don't  feed  them  with  the 
best  that  the  place  affords,  and  the  majority  of  them 
accept  the  situation  and  take  what  we  choose  to  give. 
Cold  meat  and  bread  are  their  usual  fare,  and  there  is 
always  enough  of  that.  Sometimes  they  make  a  row,  and 
demand  to  be  fed  just  in  the  same  way  that  we  feed  our 
own  farm  hands.     For  instance,  only  last  evening  I  was 


JOURNEY    UP    COUNTRY.  207 

called  into  the  men's  dining-room  to  quell  a  disturbance 
caused  by  a  sundowner.  The  travelers'  table  was  supplied 
with  cold  meat,  bread,  and  tea,  while  the  table  of  our  farm 
hands  had  on  it  bread  and  hot  roast  mutton.  The  sun- 
downer had  a  knife  in  his  hand  and  was  threatening  to 
kill  the  kitchen  maid  unless  she  gave  him  hot  mutton 
instead  of  cold." 

"  What  did  you  do  about  it?  " 

"  I  told  him  that  if  he  could  not  eat  cold  meat  he  was 
not  hungry  enough  to  eat  anything,  and  if  he  did  not  put 
that  knife  away  one  of  our  men  would  knock  his  head  off. 
He  became  quiet  at  once  and  sat  down  to  his  supper,  mut- 
tering something  about  not  being  treated  like  a  gentleman. 
We  would  like  to  shut  our  doors  altogether  against  this 
class  of  fellows,  but  there  are  difficulties  in  the  way.  We 
would  be  liable  at  times  to  turn  away  honest  and  deserv- 
ing men  who  were  really  in  search  of  employment,  and 
furthermore,  the  revengeful  scoundrels  would  set  our  build- 
ings on  fire  during  the  night,  or  perhaps  kill  our  cattle 
and  horses.  They  would  be  less  likely  to  do  the  latter 
than  the  former,  as  the  destruction  of  our  buildings  by  lire 
would  be  much  easier  and  safer  than  the  other  proceeding. 
We  certainly  need  some  kind  of  legal  restriction  over  these 
sundowners,  and  we  will  get  it  in  the  course  of  time."' 

The  house  at  which  our  friends  arrived  was  large  and 
spacious,  and  its  external  appearance,  as  they  approached 
it,  betokened  hospitality.  It  covered  a  considerable  area 
of  ground  but  was  only  a  single  story  in  height,  with  the 
exception  of  one  end,  where  there  was  an  upper  story 
occupied  by  the  female  servants.      The  men  employed  at 


208  THE  LAND  OF  THE  KANGAROO. 

the  place  ate  and  slept  in  a  building  in  the  rear  of  the 
principal  house,  the  two  being  connected  by  a  kitchen 
and  a  shed.  The  house  was  substantially  constructed  of 
wood,  the  sides  being  double  walled  with  planking,  while 
the  roof  sloped  gently  to  the  front.  There  were  gutters  at 
the  eaves  to  catch  all  the  water  which  came  down  in  the 
form  of  rain,  and  convey  it  to  a  large  cistern  just  in  the 
rear  of  the  main  dwelling.  Their  host  explained  that  they 
had  a  fine  spring  close  to  the  house,  from  which  they  usu- 
ally obtained  their  supply  of  water.  "  This  spring  some- 
times gives  out  in  seasons  of  excessive  dryness,"  said  he, 
"  and  then  we  fall  back  upon  the  cistern." 

"  You  have  been  long  enough  in  Australia,"  he  con- 
tinued, "  to  learn  the  full  value  of  water,  and  we  are 
obliged  to  be  careful  in  the  use  of  it  and  in  selecting  a 
location  for  our  house.  In  the  great  drought,  when  we 
had  no  rain  for  two  years,  we  suffered  exceedingly  and  a 
great  many  of  my  cattle  perished  for  thirst.  Since  then 
I  have  built  a  reservoir  for  storing  water,  and  if  another 
drought  should  come,  I  don't  think  my  herds  will  suffer  as 
much  as  they  did." 

Dr.  Whitney  and  our  young  friends  were  shown  to 
the  rooms  they  were  expected  to  occupy  during  their  stay. 
Dr.  Whitney  was  assigned  to  a  good-sized  bedroom, 
while  the  youths  were  placed  in  another  bedroom  close  to 
it  and  equipped  with  two  beds.  They  made  a  brief  survey 
of  the  room  and  concluded  that  they  would  be  very  com- 
fortable. Harry  remarked  that  it  was  quite  as  good  as 
any  room  they  had  thus  far  occupied  in  Australian  hotels. 
They  devoted  a  short  time  to  removing  the  dust  of  travel 


JOURNEY    UP    COUNTRY.  200, 

and  putting  themselves  in  a  condition  of  cleanliness,  and 
shortly  after  they  appeared  on  the  veranda,  where  their 
host  was  awaiting  them,  and  dinner  was  announced. 

The  size  of  the  dining-room  indicated  that  the  place 
was  an  hospitable  one,  as  the  table  was  capable  of  accom- 
modating not  fewer  than  twenty  people  without  crowd- 
ing. Harry  took  note  of  the  menu  which  comprised 
their  meal,  and  according  to  his  memorandum  it  was  as 
follows  :  — 

"  Soup  of  kangaroo  tail,  mutton  pie,  roast  beef,  pota- 
toes, cauliflower  and  parsnips,  hot  and  cold  bread,  plum 
pudding  and  tea.  There  were  also  some  canned  apricots 
of  home  production.  Altogether  it  was  a  very  substantial 
meal,  excellent  in  quality,  liberal  in  quantity,  and  well 
cooked  throughout." 

The  evening  was  passed  in  front  of  a  big  fire  in  the 
large  sitting-room.  As  the  night  was  chilly  and  somewhat 
damp,  the  tire  was  very  welcome.  The  time  was  passed 
in  conversation  concerning  the  cattle  business,  interspersed 
with  stories  of  Australian  life.  Harry  and  Ned  asked  the 
permission  of  their  host  to  make  use  of  their  notebooks, 
and  their  request  was  readily  granted.  Accordingly,  they 
kept  their  pencils  in  their  hands,  and  placed  on  paper 
anything  which   seemed  to  them  particularly  interesting. 

Harry  made  note  of  a  statement  of  their  host  concerning 
the  cattle  business  and  its  ups  and  downs.  One  of  his 
notes  reads  as   follows  :  — 

"To  go  into  the  cattle  business,  one  ought  to  have  a 
capital  of  not  less  than  fifty  thousand  dollars,  and  he  could 
use  one  hundred  thousand  to  advantage.     His  first  step  is  to 


2IO  THE  LAND  OF  THE  KANGAROO. 

secure  a  tract  of  land,  and  this  he  does  by  getting  a  grant 
from  the  government  allowing  him  to  occupy  an  area  of 
ground  several  miles  square  at  a  rental  of  ten  or  twenty 
shillings  annually  for  each  square  mile.  His  next  step  is 
to  secure  location,  and  to  do  this  he  travels  a  great  deal 
through  the  interior,  visiting  ground  that  has  not  been 
taken  up,  and  exercising  his  judgment  as  to  the  choice 
of  ground.  He  must  take  care  to  find  a  place  where  there 
is  good  grass  and  good  water ;  he  wants  a  certain  amount 
of  timber  on  his  land,  but  not  too  much,  and  the  water 
holes  must  be  at  suitable  distances  apart.  Many  a  man 
has  come  to  grief  in  the  cattle  business  owing  to  his  bad 
selection  of  a  location. 

"  A  man  who  takes  a  large  area  of  ground  in  this  way 
is  called  a  '  squatter.'  You  can  put  this  down  in  your 
notebooks,  young  men,  that  a  squatter  in  Australia  is  just 
the  reverse  of  the  same  individual  in  America.  In  your 
country,  the  squatter  is  a  man  who  lives  upon  a  small 
tract  of  land  which  he  cultivates  himself,  while  here  he 
is  a  man,  as  I  said  before,  who  takes  a  large  area  of 
ground  for  pastoral  purposes.  The  equivalent  of  the 
American  squatter  is  here  called  a  '  selector,'  and  between 
the  selectors  and  the  squatters  there  is  a  perpetual  warfare, 
as  the  selector  is  allowed  by  law  to  select  a  location  for  a 
farm  on  any  government  land,  whether  occupied  by  a 
squatter  or  not.  The  selectors  give  the  squatters  a  great 
deal  of  trouble,  and  many  of  us  think  that  the  colonial 
governments  have  treated  us  very  badly. 

"Well,  after  getting  our  ground  we  proceed  to  stock  it, 
and  with  fifty  thousand  dollars  we  can  buy  about  twenty- 


JOURNEY    UP    COUNTRY.  211 

five  hundred  head  of  cattle.  Then  we  put  up  our  build- 
ings, employ  our  stockmen,  and  set  to  work.  If  we  have 
good  luck  we  can  pay  our  expenses,  almost  from  the  be- 
ginning, by  sending  fat  cattle  to  market.  For  the  first  five 
years  we  sell  only  fat  cattle  ;  at  the  end  of  that  time  we 
have  doubled  our  original  stock,  and  then  we  begin  to 
sell  ordinary  cattle  as  well  as  fat  ones.  From  that  time 
on,  if  no  mishap  befalls  us,  we  can  sell  twelve  or  fifteen 
thousand  dollars'  worth  of  cattle  every  year,  including  all 
kinds.  At  this  rate  the  profits  are  satisfactory,  and  in  fif- 
teen or  twenty  years,  a  man  who  has  started  out  with 
fifty  thousand  dollars  can  retire  on  eight  or  ten  times  that 
amount." 

Harry  asked  what  were  the  drawbacks  to  the  cattle  busi- 
ness; that  is,  what  were  the  kinds  of  bad  luck  that  could 
happen  to  a  man  who  engaged  in  it. 

"As  to  that,"  replied  Mr.  Syme,  "there  are  several 
things  which  it  is  not  possible  to  foresee  or  prevent.  In 
the  first  place,  nobody  can  foresee  a  great  drought  when 
cattle  perish  of  thirst  and  starvation  :  added  to  this  danger 
is  that  of  diseases  to  which  cattle  are  subject,  especially 
pleuro-pneumonia.  Whole  herds  maybe  carried  away  by 
this  disease,  and  if  it  once  gets  established  among  the  cattle 
of  an  estate  it  is  very  difficult  to  eradicate  it.  Sometimes  it 
is  necessary  to  kill  off  an  entire  herd  in  order  to  get  rid  of 
the  disease,  and  I  have  heard  of  cattle  runs  that  were  de- 
populated successively  two  or  three  times  by  pleuro-pneu- 
monia, and  their  owners  ruined.  Sometimes  the  market  is 
very  low  in  consequence  of  an  over-supply,  and  the  price 
cattle  furnish  is  a  very  poor  remuneration  to  stock  raisers. 


212  THE  LAND  OF  THE  KANGAROO. 

"Sheep  farming  is  more  profitable,  on  the  whole,  than 
cattle  farming,"  he  continued  ;  "but  the  risks  are  some- 
what greater  in  consequence  of  the  greater  liability  of 
sheep  to  disease.  There  are  several  diseases  peculiar  to 
sheep  which  carry  them  off  in  great  numbers,  and  they 
are  affected  by  drought  quite  as  much  as  cattle  are.  A 
sheep  run  can  be  started  with  a  small  capital,  and  you 
might  almost  say  with  no  capital  at  all.  For  instance,  a 
man  with  very  little  money,  or  practically  with  none  at  all, 
can  find  a  location  and  squat  upon  it,  and  then  go  to  one 
of  the  cities,  and  if  he  is  known  to  be  a  respectable, 
honest,  and  industrious  man  and  free  from  vicious  habits, 
he  can  find  somebody  who  will  supply  the  capital  for  buy- 
ing a  few  hundred  sheep.  With  these  sheep  he  can  make 
a  start,  and  if  he  is  industrious  and  attentive  to  business, 
and  has  no  bad  luck  with  his  flocks,  he  will  make  money 
rapidly.  In  ten  years  he  will  have  a  comfortable  fortune  ; 
but,  on  the  other  hand,  he  is  liable  at  any  time  to  be 
ruined  by  two  successive  bad  seasons  of  drought  and 
disease.  Sometimes  the  price  of  wool  is  so  low  that  it 
leaves  very  little  profit  to  the  sheep  farmer  after  paying 
for  shepherds,  shearers,  and  other  employees,  and  the 
expense  of  taking  his  wrool  to  the  sea-coast." 

Their  host  remarked,  in  conclusion,  that  he  was  afraid 
the  good  days  of  cattle  and  sheep  farming  had  gone  and 
would  never  come  again.  "  Land  has  become  dear,"  he 
said,  "  and  labor  unions  compel  us  to  pay  high  prices 
for  stockmen  and  shearers,  especially  the  latter,  and  the 
prices  of  wool  are  not  as  good  as  they  used  to  be.  The 
wool  market  of  the  world  is  low,  and  so  is  the  cattle  mar- 


JOURNEY    UP    COUNTRY.  213 

ket.  Since  the  practise  of  freezing  beef  and  mutton  and 
carrying  the  frozen  meat  to  England  has  come  into  vogue 
the  prices  of  meat  have  improved,  but  the  supply  is  so 
abundant  and  the  sources  of  it  so  numerous  that  we  have 
not  been  greatly  benefited  by  the  new  process.  There 
still  remains  enough  in  either  business  to  encourage  those 
who  are  in  it  to  continue,  but  the  inducements  for  new 
enterprises  of  this  kind  are  not  great." 

Some  of  the  stories  that  were  told  about  experience  on 
cattle  and  sheep  runs  were  so  interesting  to  our  young 
friends  that  they  made  note  of  them.  One  of  the  party 
told  of  the  dangers  surrounding  the  life  of  the  stock-riders, 
the  men  who  look  after  the  herds  on  a  cattle  estate. 

"  He  has  some  hard  duties  to  perform,"  said  the  nar- 
rator. "  He  gets  his  breakfast  early  in  the  morning  and 
starts  out  at  once,  mounted  on  horseback,  and  with  a  horse 
that  is  more  or  less  unruly-  Each  stock-rider,  or  stockman, 
as  we  call  him,  has  a  particular  part  of  the  run  assigned 
to  him,  and  every  morning  he  goes  along  the  boundary  of 
it,  and  if  his  own  cattle  have  strayed  across  the  line,  he 
drives  them  back  again ;  likewise,  if  he  finds  his  neigh- 
bor's cattle  have  strayed  into  his  territory,  he  drives  them 
out.  He  is  expected  to  show  himself  to  his  cattle  at  least 
once  a  day,  to  accustom  them  to  the  sight  of  men,  and  also 
to  train  them  to  go  where  they  are  wanted  whenever  he 
cracks  his  whip  and  rides  in  among  them. 

"  The  group  of  cattle  belonging  to  each  stockman  is  called 
a  '  herd,'  and  he  is  expected  to  train  them  so  that  they  will 
recognize  his  authority.  A  bunch  of  fifty  or  so  is  called  a 
'  mob,'  and  it  takes  several  mobs  to  make  up  a  herd.     All 


214  TIIE    LAND    OF    THE    KANGAROO. 

over  the  run,  at  intervals  of  two  or  three  miles,  are  places 
where  the  cattle  assemble  when  they  hear  the  stockman's 
whip.  These  places  are  called  '  cattle  camps  ' ;  they  are 
open  spaces  of  level  ground  and  are  always  near  water ; 
in  fact,  many  of  them  are  used  as  regular  watering  places 
for  the  mobs  and  herds  of  cattle.  Occasionally  the  ani- 
mals are  driven  into  these  camps,  either  for  the  purpose  of 
branding  the  calves  or  selecting  cattle  to  be  sent  to  market. 
You  will  have  an  opportunity  of  seeing  one  of  these  to- 
morrow, as  a  man  arrived  here  to-night  who  is  buying 
cattle  to  take  to  Melbourne. 

"Well,  the  stock-rider  is  on  horseback  for  the  greater 
part  of  the  day.  Sometimes  he  takes  his  dinner  with  him 
and  sometimes  he  comes  back  to  the  station  to  get  it,  and 
in  the  afternoon  goes  to  a  different  part  of  his  section. 
Sometimes  he  does  not  come  back  at  all,  and  the  next 
morning  a  search  is  made  for  him.  Of  course  there  is 
now  and  then  a  man  who  runs  away  and  leaves  his  em- 
ployment, but  this  is  rarely  the  case,  as  there  is  no  occasion 
for  him  doing  so  unless  he  has  committed  some  offense." 

The  youths  listened  in  breathless  silence,  waiting  for 
what  would  come  next. 

"  There  really  ought  to  be  two  men  riding  together  at 
all  times,  so  that  if  a  mishap  occurs  to  one  of  them,  the 
other  can  help  him  out  of  his  trouble,  and,  if  unable  to  do 
so,  can  go  for  assistance  ;  and  we  generally  send  out  a  black 
boy  on  horseback  with  each  stockman.  A  few  months 
ago  one  of  our  stockmen,  who  had  gone  out  alone,  failed 
to  come  home  at  night,  and  we  were  at  once  apprehensive 
that  something    had   happened  to   him.      His   horse  came 


JOURNEY    UP    COUNTRY.  2l5 

back  along  about  midnight,  and  the  next  morning  several 
of  us  started  out  to  find  him.  We  tried  to  make  use  of 
the  intelligence  of  the  horse  to  guide  us  to  the  place  where 
he  had  left  his  master,  but,  unfortunately,  it  was  an  animal 
that  he  had  ridden  only  a  few  times  and  there  was  no 
attachment  whatever  between  man  and  beast.  We  rode 
along  the  boundary  where  we  knew  he  was  accustomed 
to  go,  but  did  not  find  him.  We  spread  out  over  all  the 
ground  we  could  cover  and  shouted  continually,  in  the 
hope  that  he  would  hear  us  and  answer.  We  made  a  com- 
plete circuit  of  the  portion  of  the  run  in  his  charge,  and, 
finding  no  traces  of  him,  we  struck  off  haphazard  across 
the  middle  of  it.  We  kept  up  our  shouting  and  finally 
heard  a  faint  answer. 

"  Then  we  rode  in  the  direction  of  the  sound,  and  in 
fifteen  or  twenty  minutes  we  reached  the  man's  side.  It 
seems  that  his  horse  had  stumbled  over  a  fallen  log  so 
violently  as  to  pitch  the  rider  over  his  head.  In  falling, 
the  man  had  the  misfortune  to  break  his  leg.  The  horse 
stood  and  looked  at  him  a  few  minutes  while  he  tried  to 
call  the  animal  to  his  side,  but  to  no  purpose.  The  beast 
threw  his  head  and  then  his  heels  into  the  air  and  trotted 
off.  He  was  soon  out  of  sight  in  the  bush  and  the  stock- 
man was  left  alone,  disabled  in  the  way  I  tell  you. 

"There  was  no  water  in  this  vicinity  and  he  had  no 
food  with  him,  and  he  could  not  walk  or  stand  on  account 
of  his  broken  leg.  lie  could  crawl  slowly,  but  only  a 
short  distance  at  a  time.  He  knew  that  he  was  out  of  the 
regular  track  of  riders,  and  it  might  be  days  or  weeks 
before  he  would  be  discovered.      He  suffered  great   pain 


2l6  THE  LAND  OF  THE  KANGAROO. 

in  his  injured  limb,  and  very  soon  the  tortures  of  thirst 
began,  to  be  followed  later  in  the  day  by  those  of  hunger. 

"All  the  rest  of  the  day  and  all  through  the  night  he 
lay  there  in  great  suffering  and  wondering  if  relief  would 
ever  come.  Along  towards  morning  he  heard  a  rustling 
in  the  grass  near  him,  and  then  other  similar  sounds,  which 
he  soon  concluded  were  caused  by  snakes.  When  day- 
light came  he  found  that  his  fears  and  horrors  were  real- 
ized. Moving  around  him  were  several  serpents,  and  they 
manifested  a  tendency  to  approach  nearer  and  nearer. 
Some  of  them  went  away  as  the  sun  rose  and  the  full  light 
of  day  shone  upon  him,  but  others  remained  in  his  imme- 
diate neighborhood.  He  beat  the  ground  with  the  butt  of 
his  whip  in  the  hope  of  scaring  them  away  :  his  effort  was 
partially  successful  but  not  wholly  so.  One  large  snake 
came  close  to  his  side  and  actually  traversed  his  body. 
He  dared  not  make  a  motion,  for  fear  the  serpent  would 
turn  upon  him  and  inflict  a  fatal  bite.  He  lay  there  as 
still  as  a  block  of  marble  till  the  snake,  having  satisfied  his 
curiosity,  glided  away  into  the  grass. 

"All  through  the  afternoon  and  until  we  found  him, 
the  reptiles  remained  there.  They  seemed  to  understand 
that  the  man  was  disabled,  and  evidently  they  were  deter- 
mined to  take  their  own  time  in  enjoying  his  sufferings. 
This  was  the  state  of  affairs  when  we  found  him.  He 
said  that  when  he  heard  our  call  he  almost  feared  to  reply, 
lest  it  should  rouse  his  unpleasant  neighbors  and  cause 
them  to  take  the  aggressive. 

"We  killed  two  of  the  snakes  not  a  dozen  yards  from 
where  the  man  was  lying,  and  if  we  had  made  a  vigorous 


JOURNEY    UP    COUNTRY.  2 17 

search,  it  is  probable  that  we  could  have  despatched  more 
of  them.  We  brought  the  man  to  the  house  as  quickly 
as  possible,  improvising  a  rude  sort  of  litter,  which  was 
carried,  with  the  man  upon  it,  by  two  of  our  blacks.  Two 
of  us  relieved  them  occasionally,  when  they  were  wearied 
of  carrying  the  burden.  In  a  short  time  the  man  was 
well  again,  but  he  said  that  the  horrors  of  that  night  were 
too  much  for  him,  and  he  would  seek  some  other  occupa- 
tion than  that  of  stock-rider.  He  left  us  as  soon  as  he 
recovered,  and  I  don't  know  what  became  of  him." 

"  That  reminds  me,"  said  another  of  the  party,  "  of  the 
case  of  a  man  who  met  with  a  similar  accident,  being 
thrown  from  his  horse  and  getting  a  broken  leg.  The 
place  where  he  fell  happened  to  be  near  a  large  ant  hill, 
and  in  a  few  moments  he  was  covered  with  the  terrible 
black  ants  that  we  have  here  in  Australia.  He  was  hor- 
ribly bitten  by  them  all  over  his  body,  but  principally  on 
head  and  hands,  the  other  parts  being  somewhat  protected 
by  his  clothing.  After  two  or  three  hours  of  torture  he 
managed  to  crawl  away  from  his  awful  position,  but  for 
several  hours  afterwards  the  ants  continued  their  attacks  ; 
and  when  he  was  found  by  one  of  his  fellow-stockmen,  his 
face  was  so  swollen  that  he  could  not  see,  and  he  was 
barely  able  to  articulate.  Face  and  hands  became  a  mass 
of  sores,  and  it  was  weeks  before  he  recovered.  When 
he  got  well,  his  face  was  pitted  like  that  of  the  victim  of 
an  attack  of  smallpox,  and  he  suffered  for  a  long  time 
with  a  partial  paralysis  of  his  limbs.  I  have  heard  of  one 
or  two  other  instances  of  the  same  sort,  and  can  hardly 
imagine  anything  more  terrible." 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

LOST    IN    THE    BUSH AUSTRALIAN    HORSES. 

"  A  NOTHER  of  the  gentlemen/'  wrote  Harry  in  his 
i\  notebook,  "  told  us  a  story  about  a  young  woman, 
with  a  child  in  her  arms  and  an  older  child  at  her  side, 
being  lost  in  the  bush."  She  had  been  on  a  visit  to  an 
acquaintance  who  lived  about  four  miles  away,  and  was 
to  start  for  home  in  the  afternoon  of  a  certain  Frida}', 
having  gone  there  in  the  forenoon  of  the  same  day.  She 
did  not  reach  home  in  the  evening,  and  it  was  thought 
at  first  that  she  had  concluded  to  remain  until  Saturday. 
Not  until  Sunday  did  her  husband  go  to  the  house  where 
she  had  been  visiting,  and  there  he  ascertained  that  she 
had  left  the  place  on  Friday  afternoon,  as  agreed,  and 
carried  no  provisions  except  a  pound  of  butter  which  she 
was  taking  home   for  her  husband. 

"  It  was  at  once  concluded,"  said  the  gentleman, 
"  that  she  had  missed  her  way  and  been  lost  in  the 
bush ;  and  when  one  is  thus  lost,  it  is  very  hard  to  find 
the  way  out  again.  The  general  features  of  the  land- 
scape are  so  similar  that  it  is  very  difficult  to  distinguish 
one  part  from  another,  and  the  alarm  and  perplexity 
natural  on  finding  oneself  in  such  a  situation  increases 
the  danger  which  attends  it  by  robbing  the  wanderer  of 
the  presence  of  mind  which  is  so  necessary  in  such  an 
emergency.      When    the  sun    is  obscured    by    clouds  the 


LOST    IN    THE    BUSH.  2IO. 

most  experienced  traveler  is  liable  to  stray  and  become 
lost,  and  even  when  the  sun  is  shining  it  is  not  every  one 
who  can  take  advantage  of  its  position  to  guide  him  out 
of  trouble.  The  course  of  the  streams  in  a  well-watered 
country  is  of  great  use  in  guiding  an  inexperienced  trav- 
eler, but  Australian  streams,  like  most  others,  wind  about  a 
great  deal,  and  make  the  road  along  their  banks  a  very 
long  one. 

"  It  was  the  rainy  season  of  the  year  when  this  woman 
was  lost,  and  the  streams  were  flooded.  If  she  had  fol- 
lowed the  creek  which  would  have  led  her  to  her  home,  she 
would  have  been  compelled  to  keep  to  the  high  ground  on 
either  side  of  its  valley,  as  the  low,  flat  land  was  covered  with 
water.  The  weather  was  cold  and  wet  and  the  winds  were 
keen  and  piercing.  There  was  not  the  least  supply  of 
nourishment  to  be  obtained  in  the  bush,  and  when  we  heard 
late  on  Monday  what  had  happened,  we  all  felt  that  the 
unhappy  wanderers  must  have  perished  from  hunger  and 
cold.  Still,  there  was  a  possibility  that  they  might  yet  sur- 
vive, and,  as  it  was  too  late  for  us  to  start  that  day,  we 
determined  to  set  out  on  Tuesday  morning  in  search  of 
them.  We  sent  off  to  the  nearest  police  station  and 
obtained  the  assistance  of  several  blacks  who  had  been 
trained  to  the  police  service.  You  have  probably  heard 
about  the  wonderful  skill  of  these  people  in  following  a 
track,  and  as  soon  as  they  arrived  on  the  ground  we  set 
them  at  work. 

"All  day  Tuesday  these  native  trackers  sought  dili- 
gently to  find  traces  of  the  missing  ones,  but  none  could 
be  discovered.      Then  on  Wednesday  morning  we  renewed 


220  THE  LAND  OF  THE  KANGAROO. 

the  search,  covering  as  much  ground  as  possible  and 
examining  it  with  the  greatest  care,  occasionally  discharg- 
ing a  revolver  in  the  hope  that  its  sound  might  be  heard, 
and  frequently  shouting  the  Australian  '  coo-ee,'  which 
can  be  heard  at  a  great  distance.  We  returned  home  com- 
pletely discouraged  and  gave  up  the  wanderers  for  dead, 
being  satisfied  that  any  further  search  wrould  be  useless. 

"  But  on  reaching  home  we  heard  news  that  gave  us 
encouragement.  A  woodchopper  returning  from  his  work 
told  us  that  he  found  on  a  hill,  some  distance  away,  a 
rude  mia-mia  or  wind  shelter  made  of  the  branches  of  a 
wild  cherry  tree.  He  said  it  was  not  like  those  usually 
put  up  by  the  blacks,  nor  were  there  any  traces  of  fire 
near  it,  which  would  certainly  have  been  the  case  if  it  had 
been  a  native  mia-mi.  We  started  at  once,  under  the  guid- 
ance of  the  workman,  to  inspect  the  place  for  ourselves, 
and  on  examining  the  shelter  carefully  we  felt  sure  that  it 
had  been  put  up  by  the  lost  woman.  A  few  pieces  of  a 
Melbourne  newspaper  were  lying  on  the  ground  and  a 
strip  of  calico  had  been  fastened  to  the  bushes,  evidently 
in  the  hope  of  attracting  attention. 

"We  collected  these  little  articles  carefully  and  took 
them  to  the  husband,  who  instantly  identified  the  strip  of 
calico  as  belonging  to  a  gown  his  wife  had  worn,  and  he 
also  remembered  that  she  had  taken  a  Melbourne  news- 
paper with  her.  He  was  greatly  excited  at  the  sight  of 
the  articles,  and  so  were  we.  It  was  too  late  to  do  any- 
thing that  day ;  in  fact,  it  was  dark  before  we  reached 
home,  and  so  we  made  all  preparations  for  an  early  start 
on  Thursday  morning.     We  were  on  the  way  soon  after 


LOST    IN    THE    BUSH.  221 

daylight,  and  the  native  trackers  expressed  the  fullest 
confidence  in  their  ability  to  find  the  missing  wanderers, 
now  that  they  were  able  to  start  on  the  track. 

"  We  first  went  to  the  mia-mia,  or  wind  shelter,  and  then 
took  a  course  to  the  northeast,  walking  over  a  succession 
of  low  ranges  and  shallow  gullies  where  the  water  often 
reached  up  to  our  knees.  The  trackers  were  much  dis- 
appointed, as  the  amount  of  water  which  spread  over  the 
country  made  it  impossible  for  them  to  follow  the  trail. 
We  passed  through  thick  scrubs  and  prickly  plants,  and 
over  sharp  rocks  which  were  rough  walking  even  for 
men  ;  what  must  they  have  been  for  the  woman  and  her 
children? 

"We  continued  our  search  for  several  hours,  and  had 
almost  resolved  to  give  it  up,  when  one  of  our  party  fired 
at  a  kangaroo  which  he  had  disturbed,  and  which  fled 
before  us.  The  animal  fell  wounded,  and  as  we  were  ad- 
vancing towards  it,  we  thought  we  heard  a  distant  coo-ee. 
We  stood  still  to  listen,  and  faintly,  yet  quite  distinctly, 
it  was  repeated.  We  walked  on  with  great  eagerness  in 
the  direction  whence  the  sound  appeared  to  come,  and 
every  little  while  we  coo-eed  and  waited  for  an  answer  to 
assure  us  that  we  were  on  the  right  track.  We  did  not 
get  an  answer  every  time,  and  when  we  did  it  was  not  a 
strong  one ;  but  there  was  no  mistaking  the  sound,  and  we 
realized  each  time  that  we  were  getting  nearer  the  spot 
where  it  was  made. 

"We  reached  the  edge  of  a  gully  thickly  overgrown 
with  tangled  scrub  about  twelve  feet  high.  We  pressed 
forward  through   this   scrub,  wading   occasionally  through 


222  THE  LAND  OF  THE  KANGAROO. 

the  water,  and  pushing  aside  the  last  bushes,  found  our- 
selves at  the  edge  of  a  small  open  plain.  There  we  saw, 
standing  at  a  little  distance,  a  gaunt,  ragged  woman  with 
a  child  in  her  arms.  As  she  caught  sight  of  us  she  turned 
and  fled ;  either  she  mistook  us  for  black  fellows,  or  the 
surprise  and  relief  of  obtaining  help  had  turned  her  brain. 
We  shouted  loudly  to  her  to  stop,  and  as  our  voices  fell 
on  her  ear  she  stood  still  and  we  approached.  She  looked 
at  us  with  a  half-crazed  expression  in  her  eager,  gleaming 
eyes ;  her  cheeks  were  thin  and  sunken,  and  her  whole 
appearance  was  one  of  great  wretchedness. 

"  We  gave  her  some  tea  which  she  drank  greedily,  and 
it  revived  her  somewhat.  Seeing  that  she  had  only  one 
of  her  children  with  her,  the  youngest,  we  asked  where 
the  other  was,  and  she  led  us  to  a  large,  hollow  tree  in 
which  she  placed  the  little  girl.  The  poor  child's  feet 
were  so  cruelly  cut  and  blistered  that  she  could  no  longer 
walk,  and  the  mother,  hoping  to  reach  home  and  find  help, 
had  thought  best  to  leave  her  and  travel  on  with  the  other 
child.  She  had  built  up  the  opening  of  the  tree  with  logs 
and  brush-wood  in  the  hope  of  protecting  the  child  against 
the  attacks  of  the  wild  dogs,  but  when  her  preparations 
were  complete  the  little  girl  wept  so  piteously  that  the 
distracted  mother  could  not  consent  to  leave  her  alone. 
So  she  made  up  her  mind  to  stay  there  and  die  with  her 
children. 

"Just  as  she  had  reached  this  conclusion  she  heard  the 
report  of  the  rifle,  and  with  all  her  remaining  strength  she 
uttered  the  coo-ee  which  brought  relief  to  her.  She  did 
not  faint  or  lose  her  self-possession,  and  she  astonished  us 


LOST    IN    THE    BUSH.  223 

all  by  her  strength.  She  would  not  wait  to  allow  us  to 
send  for  a  dray  or  other  conveyance,  but  insisted  that  she 
could  walk  with  us  ;  it  was  a  walk  of  seven  miles,  but  she 
went  on  bravely,  carrying  her  boy,  who  would  not  leave 
her  arms.  The  men  by  turns  carried  the  little  girl,  and 
offered  to  take  the  boy,  but  she  would  not  give  him  up. 

"  She  solemnly  declared  that  neither  she  nor  the  chil- 
dren had  found  anything  to  eat  during  the  time  they  were 
in  the  bush.  On  the  first  night,  she  divided  the  pound  of 
butter  between  the  children,  and  ate  nothing  herself.  Her 
only  sustenance  for  the  whole  time  had  been  water,  and  it 
was  the  only  sustenance  of  the  children  after  the  butter 
was  consumed.  Every  morning  they  had  begun  to  wan- 
der, hoping  to  reach  home  before  night;  and  every  night, 
as  the  darkness  closed  in,  they  huddled  together,  cold, 
and  hungry,  and  footsore,  on  the  wet  ground,  and  with  no 
shelter  except  a  few  scanty  bushes. 

"  The  children  slept  fairly  well,  but  the  mother  said 
she  listened  through  the  greater  part  of  every  night,  hear- 
ing the  howling  of  the  wild  dogs  around  them,  and  con- 
stantly dreading  their  attacks.  She  said  she  heard  the 
report  of  our  rifles  on  the  first  day  of  our  search,  but  un- 
happily the  wind  was  blowing  directly  from  us  towards  her, 
and  consequently  we  were  unable  to  hear  her  answering 
calls,  though  she  had  strained  her  voice  to  the  utmost  to 
make  herself  heard.  She  had  been  almost  frantic  with 
despair,  knowing  that  help  was  so  near  at  hand  and  yet 
beyond  her  reach.  She  thought,  and  we  agreed  with 
her,  that  another  day  in  the  bush  would  have  ended  their 
lives,  or  at  any  rate  that  of  the  little  girl.'' 


224 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  KANGAROO. 


As  the  narrator  paused,  Harry  asked  if  the  woman  re- 
covered her  health  and  strength  completely. 

"  She  recovered  her  strength  very  soon,"  was  the  reply, 
"but  her  mind  was  affected  by  her  exposure  and  suf- 
ferings, and  she  was  never  quite  herself  again,  mentally. 
The  children  recovered  completely  after  a  few  weeks  of 
nourishment,  and  the  little  girl  who  was  so  near  dying  in 
that  hollow  tree  has  since  grown  up  and  married." 

"  I  think  it  is  time  for  a  story  of  less  mournful  char- 
acter," said  one  of  the  party. 

"  By  all  means,"  said  another;   "  let  us  have  one." 

"  Well,  here  it  is,"  was  the  reply. 

"  At  the  station  of  a  wealthy  squatter  a  party  as- 
sembled one  evening  for  a  good  time  and  a  supper. 
There  were  young  men  and  young  women,  as  well  as 
men  and  women  who  were  not  altogether  young,  who  had 
been  invited  for  miles  around,  and  they  had  a  jolly  time, 
you  may  well  believe  me.  Some  of  the  young  fellows, 
wishing  to  have  some  fun,  disguised  themselves  in  rough 
clothes,  blackened  their  faces,  and  frowzed  up  their  hair 
in  the  roughest  kind  of  way.  Then  they  suddenly  ap- 
peared at  the  door  of  the  large  room,  and  the  cry  of 
"  Bushrangers  !  "  was  raised.  Some  of  the  ladies  fainted 
in  alarm,  and  all  were  more  or  less  frightened.  The  joke 
was  not  kept  up  very  long,  as  the  counterfeit  bushrangers 
were  not  good  impersonators,  and  were  speedily  detected 
by  their  friends.  There  was  a  great  deal  of  fun  and 
laughter  over  the  trick  that  had  been  played,  and  then  the 
performers  in  the  scheme  resumed  their  ordinary  dress 
and  continued  in  the  games  with  the  others. 


LOST    IN    THE    BUSH.  225 

"  An  hour  or  so  later,  rough  voices  were  heard  outside 
of  the  house,  and  soon  there  appeared  in  the  doorway  six 
or  eight  rough-looking  men  with  begrimmed  faces,  un- 
trimmed  hair,  and  very  shabby-looking  garments,  who 
entered  the  hall  with  a  very  determined  manner.  Some 
of  the  party  burst  out  laughing,  and  exclaimed,  "  Bush- 
rangers again  !  "  declaring  that  they  would  not  be  fooled 
a  second  time.  Some  of  the  others  had  an  instinctive  per- 
ception that  this  time  the  bushrangers  were  real  ones." 

The  narrator  paused,  and  Harry  asked  if  that  was  the 
case. 

"  It  was  exactly,"  was  the  reply.  "  The  men  were  no- 
torious bushrangers  who  had  been  troubling  that  part  of 
the  country  for  some  time.  The  robbers  drew  revolvers 
and  ordered  the  men  to  "  bail  up  !  "  (hold  up  their  hands) 
which  they  did  in  a  hurry,  and  then  they  were  commanded 
to  stand  in  a  row  with  their  faces  next  to  the  wall. 

"Then  the  bushrangers  ordered  the  ladies  to  provide 
them  with  refreshments,  while  one  was  commanded  to  sit 
at  the  piano  and  entertain  them  with  music.  No  one  was 
allowed  to  leave  the  room  except  under  the  escort  of  a 
bushranger,  for  fear  that  word  would  be  sent  to  the  police. 

"  The  scoundrels  ate  and  drank  freely,  and  then  took 
possession  of  all  the  watches,  jewelry,  money,  and  other 
valuables  in  the  possession  of  the  party.  After  making 
their  collection  they  left  the  place.  Word  was  sent  to  the 
police  as  soon  as  possible,  but  as  the  police  station  was 
several  miles  away,  the  information  was  of  no  practical 
value." 

"  Were  the  scoundrels  ever  caught?"  inquired  Ned. 


226  THE  LAND  OF  THE  KANGAROO. 

"Yes,  they  were  eventually  caught  and  hanged,"  was 
the  reply.  "They  troubled  that  region  for  some  time. 
The  inhabitants  dared  not  pursue  them,  for  fear  of  their  ven- 
geance, though  all  wanted  to  be  rid  of  them.  Four  men 
came  from  Melbourne  with  authority  for  taking  these 
robbers,  dead  or  alive,  and  with  the  promise  of  a  large 
reward.  It  was  impossible  to  keep  their  errand  a  secret, 
and  none  of  the  people  dared  give  them  any  assistance  in 
consequence  of  their  dread  of  what  the  bushrangers  might 
do  if  they  heard  of  it.  I  know  of  one  instance  where  these 
four  men  applied  to  a  squatter  for  a  night's  lodging  and 
supper.  He  dared  not  let  his  family  know  about  the  men 
being  there,  but  lodged  them  in  an  out-building,  and  with 
his  own  hands  carried  the  food  to  them  for  their  supper." 

"  And  did  these  four  men  capture  the  bushranger 
gang  ?  "  queried  Harry. 

"  Not  by  any  means,"  was  the  reply.  "  They  were 
riding  one  day  along  the  road,  when  they  suddenly  found 
themselves  face  to  face  with  the  bushrangers.  A  fight 
followed  as  a  matter  of  course,  and  eveiy  one  of  the  four 
was  killed.  When  the  corpses  were  discovered,  one  of 
them  was  found  in  a  kneeling  posture,  as  though  he  had 
died  in  the  act  of  begging  for  mercy.  A  ten-pound  bank 
note  was  found  sticking  in  a  wound  in  his  breast,  and 
evidently  the  bushrangers  put  it  there,  to  show  that  in 
this  instance,  at  least,  their  object  was  revenge  and  not 
plunder. 

"That  the  bushrangers  were  a  bad  lot,"  continued  the 
gentleman,  "  no  one  will  deny,  but  in  many  instances  they 
showed  chivalry  and  appreciation  of  bravery.     It  was  rare, 


LOST    IN    THE    BUSH.  22J 

indeed,  that  they  ill-treated  women  or  children,  and  it  was 
also  very  rarely  the  ease  that  they  committed  murder  ex- 
cept in  self-defense  or  for  revenge.  This  led  a  good 
manv  sentimental  people  to  regard  them  rather  in  the  light 
of  dashing  heroes  than  that  of  downright  criminals.  Yon 
have  probably  heard  of  Captain  Melville,  have  you  not  ?  " 
he  asked,  turning  to  Harry  and  Ned. 

The  youths  nodded,  and  said  the  name  of  that  famous 
bushranuer  was  familiar  to  them. 

"  Well,  it  once  happened,"  said  their  informant,  "  that 
Captain  Melville  had  in  his  power  a  man  whom,  of  all 
others,  he  had  most  occasion  to  dread, —  an  officer  of  high 
standing  in  the  police  force,  at  that  time  engaged  in  pur- 
suit of  the  robber,  whom  he  declared  he  would  take  alive 
or  dead.  This  officer  was  riding  one  day  alone  and 
slightly  armed,  when  he  suddenly  met  Melville  with  his 
entire  gang.  The  police  uniform  readily  told  the  rank  of 
the  officer,  and  it  happened  that  Melville  and  several  of 
his  men  were  familiar  with  the  officer's  face. 

"He  was  immediately  surrounded  and  disarmed:  his 
hands  were  tied  behind  his  back,  and  his  captives  took  him 
triumphantly  to  their  camp.  When  the  camp  was  reached, 
the  prisoner  was  bound  to  a  wagon  wheel  while  his  captors 
held  a  counsel  to  decide  what  to  do  with  him.  The  officer 
was  noted  for  his  courage,  and  when  Melville  came  near 
him,  he  was  taunted  by  his  captive  for  his  cowardice  in 
taking  him  at  the  time  when  he  was  defenseless  and 
alone. 

"  Melville  became  angry  at  the  taunt,  and,  walking 
towards  his  prisoner,  he  placed  a  loaded  revolver  at  his 


228  THE  LAND  OF  THE  KANGAROO. 

head  and  said,  '  Say  another  word  and  I'll  blow  your  brains 
out.' 

"  'You  dare  not  do  it,'  replied  the  officer,  and  he  looked 
with  an  unflinching  eye  at  the  robber. 

"  Melville's  eyes  glared,  and  probably  the  slightest  show 
of  fear  on  the  part  of  the  officer  would  have  provoked  a 
fatal  shot. 

4 '  Melville  held  the  pistol  at  the  prisoner's  head  for  a  few 
seconds  and  then  lowered  it,  saying,  as  he  did  so,  '  You 
are  too  brave  a  man  to  be  shot,'  and  then  he  turned  and 
walked  away.  The  officer  afterwards  managed  to  escape 
and  reach  Melbourne  safely.  The  supposition  is  that  he 
was  assisted  in  escaping  by  one  of  the  bushrangers  who 
was  tired  of  life  on  the  road  and  desirous  of  leaving  it. 
The  officer  was  able  to  promise  him  immunity  from  punish- 
ment in  return  for  his  service  in  aiding  the  latter's  escape." 

"  That  reminds  me  of  a  story  I  heard  not  long  ago," 
said  Harry. 

"  A  lawyer  in  Australia  was  once  defending  a  man 
whose  family  antecedents  and  record  were  anything  but 
good.  Ignoring  this,  he  made  a  most  touching  plea  about 
the  gray-haired  parents  in  England  waiting  to  celebrate 
Christmas  with  their  returned  wanderer.  The  jury  found 
the  man  guilty,  however,  and  the  judge,  after  sentencing 
him,  remarked  that  the  learned  counsel  would  have  his 
wish ;  the  convicted  client  was  going  to  the  same  prison 
where  father  and  mother  were  already  serving  sentences. 
Their  Christmas  would  be  passed  under  the  same  roof." 

Other  stories  were  told  during  the  course  of  the  evening, 
but  we  have  no  room  for  any  more  of  them.     When  the 


LOST    IN    THE    BUSH.  229 

last  story  was  given,  the  youths  looked  at  their  watches 
and  were  surprised  to  find  the  hour  so  late.  They  imme- 
diately retired  to  their  room  and  slept  soundly,  or  at  least 
Ned  did.  Harry  said  he  was  disturbed  somewhat  by 
dreams  of  snakes,  bushrangers,  unruly  cattle,  and  horses, 
and  of  being  lost  in  the  bush.  Evidently  the  disturbance 
was  not  serious,  as  he  was  out  at  an  early  hour  with  Ned  to 
investigate  the  place  and  learn  the  peculiarities  of  an  up- 
country  station  in  Australia.  Here  is  what  he  wrote  con- 
cerning what  he  saw  and  heard  before  the  announcement 
of  breakfast : — 

"The  sights  and  sounds  were  not  altogether  unlike 
those  of  a  farm  in  New  England,  but  there  were  many  more 
of  them,  in  consequence  of  the  greater  size  of  the  station. 
A  farm  in  New  England  covering  two  or  three  hundred 
acres  of  ground  would  be  considered  a  large  one.  This 
station  covers  an  area  ten  miles  square,  or  one  hundred 
square  miles.  They  have  five  thousand  head  of  cattle 
upon  it  and  more  than  one  hundred  horses.  Most  of  the 
cattle,  in  fact,  nearly  all  of  them,  are  fully  half  wild. 
The  domesticated  ones  comprise  a  few  yokes  of  oxen  and 
a  small  herd  of  milch  cows,  and  even  the  cows  are  no- 
where near  as  tame  as  the  same  animals  would  be  in  New 
England.  We  went  out  to  the  milking  yard  and  witnessed 
the  operation  of  milking  three  or  four  cows  which  had 
been  driven  in  from  the  paddock.  Not  one  of  the  crea- 
tures would  stand  quietly  to  be  milked,  as  a  well-mannered 
cow  should  do,  and  each  one  had  to  be  driven,  led,  or 
pulled  into  a  frame  or  cage  something  like  the  frame  in 
which  oxen  are  shod.      When  the   cow  was  thoroughly  se- 


23O  THE  LAND  OF  THE  KANGAROO. 

cured  in  this  way,  with  one  fore  leg  tied  up  so  that  she 
could  not  lift  either  of  her  hind  legs,  the  milkmaid,  who 
was  a  big,  rough-looking  man,  proceeded  to  milk  the  ani- 
mal. When  the  operation  was  concluded,  another  cow 
was  brought  up  and  put  through  the  same  process. 

"  I  asked  if  they  had  any  cows  that  would  stand  peace- 
ably and  submit  to  the  milking  process.  They  answered 
me  that  they  had  such  cows  occasionally,  but  not  often  ; 
and  the  man  with  whom  I  talked  seemed  to  be  rather 
proud  of  the  circumstance,  that  Australian  cows  were  more 
high-spirited  than  American  ones. 

"  The  stockmen  had  had  their  breakfast  and  were  about 
starting  for  their  daily  rounds.  Some  fifty  or  sixty  horses 
had  been  driven  in  from  a  paddock  and  enclosed  in  a  yard 
large  enough  for  five  times  their  number.  A  man  went 
into  the  yard  to  select  his  horse  for  the  day's  riding,  and 
having  singled  out  the  animal,  he  made  several  ineffectual 
attempts  to  capture  him.  When  he  approached  the  group, 
it  divided  and  started  off  for  a  different  part  of  the  yard. 
Then  the  man  was  joined  by  another,  and  the  horses  at 
once  concluded  that  it  was  time  for  their  fun  to  cease. 
They  submitted  quietly  to  being  bridled  and  saddled,  and 
one  after  another  they  were  led  out  of  the  yard  as  soon  as 
this  operation  was  complete. 

"  One  of  the  stockmen  remarked  that  he  would  like  to 
see  one  of  us  youngsters  go  in  there  and  get  a  horse. 

"I  replied  that  I  had  heard  too  many  stories  of  the 
character  of  Australian  horses  to  induce  me  to  make  the 
attempt. 

"  You  are  very  wise  not  to  do  so,"  he  answered.   "  They 


LOST    IN    THE    BUSH.  231 

would  have  fun  with  you  by  the  hour,  and  then  you  would 
not  be  able  to  lay  hands  on  one  of  them.  Whenever  we 
get  a  new  chum  that  is  a  green  hand,  we  have  a  jolly 
time  seeing  him  work.  He  goes  inside  with  one  of  the 
black  boys,  and  between  them  they  manage  to  get  a  horse 
off  into  a  corner.  Then  the  new  chum  takes  his  bridle 
over  his  arm  and  approaches  the  horse,  talking  to  him  all 
the  time.  Australian  horses  don't  understand  that  sort  of 
thing,  and  you  might  as  well  talk  to  the  surf  on  the  sea- 
coast  as  to  one  of  them.  Just  as  the  new  chum  gets  up  to 
within  about  four  feet  of  the  horse's  neck,  the  beast  spins 
around  on  his  hind  legs,  and  is  off  like  a  shot.  He  kicks 
and  prances,  and  sometimes  he  lies  down  and  rolls,  and 
all  the  time  he  is  saying  to  himself,  '  What  a  jolly  time  I 
am  having.' 

"Then  the  new  chum  and  the  black  fellow  try  it  on 
again,  and  with  the  same  result.  All  the  old  hands  sit 
around  the  fence  and  have  a  good  laugh,  and  we  let  the 
new  chum  keep  at  it  until  our  sides  are  sore.  After  awhile 
we  agree  that  we  have  had  enough  of  it,  and  then  we  turn 
in  and  catch  the  horse  and  saddle  him  in  about  half  no 
time. 

"  But  there  is  more  fun  to  come,"  continued  the  stock- 
man, "  and  that  is  when  the  new  chum  tries  to  ride.  He 
gets  into  the  saddle,  and  just  as  he  gets  fairly  seated  the 
horse  begins  to  buck-jump.  Perhaps  you  don't  know 
what  buck-jumping  is?  " 

"I  have  heard  of  it,"  I  said.  "In  fact,  I  have  seen 
what  was  said  to  be  a  very  good  performance  of  it,  and 
that  was  in  Buffalo  Bill's  show." 


232  THE  LAND  OF  THE  KANGAROO. 

"  How  high  up  in  the  air  did  the  horses  throw  the  fel- 
lows in  the  show?  " 

"Oh,  a  little  ways,"  I  answered;  "enough  to  pitch 
them  out  of  the  saddles  and  bring  them  to  the  ground." 

"  Oh,  nonsense,"  said  the  stockman  ;  "  you  wait  till  you 
see  an  Australian  horse  send  a  new  chum  up  into  the  air. 
I've  seen  a  fellow  tossed  up  so  high  that  he  didn't  look 
bigger  than  a  dog.  He  must  have  gone  up  fifty  feet,  at 
least,  and  he  came  down  astraddle  of  the  horse  again." 

The  man  said  this  with  all  possible  gravity,  but  I 
thought  I  could  see  a  twinkle  at  the  corner  of  his  eye. 
I  smiled  politely,  as  I  did  not  want  to  contradict  him,  and, 
at  the  same  time,  did  not  wish  him  to  believe  that  I  swal- 
lowed his  preposterous  story. 

"Some  of  our  horses,"  he  continued,  "will  stand  still 
and  allow  themselves  to  be  saddled,  and  then  they  will 
take  a  long  breath,  swell  themselves  up  with  air,  burst 
the  girths,  and  throw  the  saddle  up  at  least  twenty  feet 
above  them,  and  all  this  in  one  motion." 

"Seems  to  me,  I  have  heard  of  something  of  the  kind 
in  America,"  I  remarked.  "  As  I  remember  the  story,  they 
first  fed  the  horse  with  self-raising  flour,  and  then  gave 
him  a  pail  of  water  to  drink." 

The  man  stood  silent  for  a  moment,  and  then  said, 
"You'll  do,  youngster;    you  ought  to  stay  in  Australia." 


CHAPTER  XV. 

EXPERIENCES      AT      A      CATTLE      STATION A      KANGAROO 

HUNT. 

"  '"TMIEY  breed  good  horses  in  Australia,"  continued 
1  Harry  in  his  journal.  "  As  a  general  thing,  how- 
ever, the  horses  of  this  part  of  the  world  are  vicious,  and 
it  is  no  wonder,  when  we  consider  that  they  are  harshly 
treated  all  their  lives,  and  very  rarely  hear  a  kind  word. 
The  owner  of  the  cattle  run  gave  orders  that  the  gentlest 
animals  should  be  reserved  for  the  visitors  to  ride,  and  I 
have  no  doubt  that  they  were  so  reserved.  We  found 
them  anything  but  gentle,  from  our  point  of  view,  but  man- 
aged to  get  through  the  day  without  being  thrown  out  of 
the  saddles.  They  danced  and  pirouetted  more  than  was 
to  our  liking  when  we  first  mounted,  and  it  was  only  after 
we  had  ridden  several  miles  that  their  behavior  was  what 
might  be  called  quiet. 

"  The  process  of  breaking  horses  to  the  saddle  here  is 
interesting,  though  it  is  rough  and  cruel.  The  horses  are 
kept  all  together  in  a  large  paddock ;  some  of  them 
already  broken,  and  some  that  have  never  known  saddle, 
bridle,  or  halter.  Every  morning  they  are  driven  up  by 
the  black  boys.  Selections  are  made  of  the  animals  re- 
quired for  the  day's  riding,  and  then  the  remainder  are 
turned  loose  into  the  paddock  again.  The  daily  visit  to 
the  paddock  accustoms  the  younger  horses  to  the  presence 


234  THE    LAND    OF    THE    KANGAROO. 

of  men,  so  that  they  are  not  altogether  wild  when  they  are 
taken  in  hand  for  breaking. 

"There  is  a  class  of  men  going  about  the  country 
whose  business  it  is  to  break  horses  at  so  much  a  head ; 
usually  two  pounds,  or  ten  dollars.  The  whole  herd  is 
driven  into  the  yard,  and  then  the  horse  breaker  proceeds 
to  his  work.  With  the  aid  of  two  or  three  black  fellows 
he  lassoos  a  horse  and  puts  a  strong  halter  on  him.  Then, 
while  the  black  fellows  hold  the  animal,  he  is  saddled  and 
bridled,  and  the  breaker  gets  on  his  back.  The  halter  is 
gathered  up  around  the  horse's  neck,  and  at  the  word  of 
command  the  black  fellows  jump  away  from  him. 

"  Then  begins  a  lively  performance  of  bucking  and 
jumping,  the  rider  all  the  time  clinging  to  the  saddle  with 
his  knees.  Sometimes  the  horse  tries  to  lie  down  and  roll 
in  order  to  free  himself  from  his  incumbrance  ;  he  suc- 
ceeds occasionally,  but  as  a  general  thing  he  does  not. 
Even  should  he  manage  to  shake  off  his  ride  ,  the  latter 
is  on  the  creature's  back  again  before  he  gets  fairly  on  his 
feet,  and  then  the  kicking  and  jumping  are  renewed. 
The  rider  keeps  at  the  horse  until  he  has  subdued  him 
and  ridden  him  several  times  around  the  yard  ;  possibly 
he  may  take  a  spin  out  into  the  paddock  and  back  again, 
but  he  does  not  always  do  so.  The  great  point  is  to  con- 
quer at  the  first  riding,  and  a  good  horse-breaker  never 
stops  until  he  has  done  so. 

"After  this  lesson  is  over  the  horse  is  left  with  the 
saddle  on  his  back,  and  it  is  not  taken  off  until  he  is  turned 
into  the  paddock  at  night.  The  next  day  he  receives 
another  lesson  of  the  same  sort,  and  after  a  few  days  of 


EXPERIENCES    AT    A    CATTLE    STATION.  235 

this  kind  of  training  he  is  pronounced  properly  broken, 
and  lit  '  for  a  lady  to  ride.'  I  shouldn't  want  any  lady 
of  my  acquaintance  to  venture  on  the  back  of  such  an 
animal. 

"  I  mustn't  forget  a  trick  that  these  horse-breakers  have, 
and  that  is,  of  getting  on  the  back  of  a  bucking  steed, 
placing  a  half-crown  piece  between  each  thigh  and  the 
saddle,  and  allowing  the  animal  to  go  through  all  the  per- 
formance she  chooses  to,  without  once  displacing  the  coins. 
Exactly  the  same  thing  is  done  by  the  rough  riders  of  our 
western  States  and  Territories,  with  the  difference  that 
they  use  half  dollars  instead  of  half  crowns. 

"We  found  the  morning  air  around  the  station  very 
agreeable.  A  gentle  breeze  was  blowing,  and  we  caught 
the  odor  of  the  fragrant  eucalyptus  mingled  with  that  of 
the  numerous  flowers  which  ornamented  and  brightened  the 
grounds  near  by.  We  could  hear  the  notes  of  several  birds, 
and  louder  than  all  the  rest  of  their  voices  was  that  of  the 
laughing  jackass,  which  has  already  been  described.  One 
of  these  birds  perched  on  the  fence  of  the  yard  where  the 
men  were  catching  horses,  and  Ned  and  I  approached 
within  twenty  feet  of  him  before  he  flew  away.  Before 
doing  so  he  treated  us  to  a  very  jolly  laugh,  and  both  of 
us  laughed,  too,  in  concert  with  him. 

fc>  Breakfast  was  announced,  and  we  went  in  to  enjoy  it. 
We  had  oatmeal,  mutton  chops,  and  ham  and  eggs,  with 
plenty  of  bread  and  butter,  and  honey.  I  looked  around 
the  table  for  coffee,  but  saw  none.  There  was  a  large 
pot  of  tea,  and  Ned  and  I  took  it  without  a  word  of  objec- 
tion, though  we  would   have  preferred   coffee.      We  were 


236  THE  LAND  OF  THE  KANGAROO. 

already  aware  that  coffee  is  but  little  used  in  tne  country 
districts  of  Australia,  tea  being  the  almost  universal  bever- 
age, for  the  reason  that  it  is  more  stimulating  than  coffee 
and  better  for  a  steady  diet.  It  is  carried  about  and  pre- 
pared much  more  easily  than  coffee,  and  this,  no  doubt,  is 
one  cause  of  its  popularity.  In  the  old  days  of  placer 
mining,  every  miner  carried  at  his  waist  a  '  billy,'  or  tin 
cup  for  drinking  purposes,  and  he  regarded  a  billy  of  tea 
as  a  very  important  part  of  any  meal.  At  the  present  day, 
a  goodly  proportion  of  sundowners  and  other  Australian 
pedestrians  carry  billies  at  their  waist  belts  and  treasure 
them  with  great  care." 

We  will  listen  to  Ned  as  he  tells  the  story  of  their  ride 
among  the  cattle. 

"  While  we  were  at  breakfast,''  said  Ned  in  his  journal, 
"the  horses  were  saddled  and  bridled  and  brought  up  to 
the  front  of  the  house.  There  were  seven  of  us  altogether. 
Our  host,  Mr.  Syme,  and  his  two  brothers,  a  black  fellow 
called  Jack,  Dr.  Whitney,  Harry,  and  myself.  Our  host 
and  the  doctor  led  the  way  ;  John,  the  elder  of  his  brothers, 
rode  with  Harry,  the  younger,  William,  with  me,  and  the 
black  fellow  by  himself.  That  is  to  say,  the  black  fellow, 
Jack,  brought  up  the  rear,  to  be  ready  for  use  in  case  of  an 
emergency.  We  found  our  companions  well  informed, 
and  ready  to  give  us  any  information  in  their  power, 

"  For  a  mile  or  so  we  rode  through  an  open,  undulating 
region  where  the  grass  was  fairly  abundant,  though  not 
densely  so.  One  of  our  escorts  explained  that  the  season 
had  been  a  little  dry,  and  the  grass  was  not  appearing  as 
well  as  usual.     After  passing  this  open  stretch  we  entered 


EXPERIENCES    AT    A    CATTLE    STATION.  237 

a  forest  principally  of  gum  trees,  whose  white  stems  ex- 
tended np  a  long  distance  into  the  air  before  throwing  out 
any  limbs.  From  the  gum  forest  we  passed  into  a  stretch 
of  scrub,  and  then  entered  a  valley,  through  which  ran  a 
small  stream.  The  banks  of  the  stream  were  fringed 
with  trees,  and  the  open  parts  of  it  were  thickly  covered 
with  grass.  A  mob  of  some  fifty  or  sixty  cattle  was  graz- 
ing in  this  valley,  and  by  the  orders  of  our  host,  the  black 
fellow  rode  in  among  them,  cracking  his  whip  loudly, 
and  starting  them  off  with  heads  and  tails  in  the  air. 

"'They'll  go  straight  to  the  cattle  camp,'  said  Mr. 
Syme,  '  and  that's  where  we  want  them.' 

"  I  asked  if  each  herd  had  its  own  cattle  camp,  and 
whether  it  was  possible  to  drive  the  animals  to  two  or  more 
different  camps. 

"  '  We  never  try  to  do  that,'  said  the  voung  man  at  my 
side  ;  '  we  think  it  quite  sufficient  if  they  will  go  to  one 
camp  only.  You  must  remember  they  don't  have  much 
chance  for  education,  and  there  is  a  limit  to  their  powers 
of  understanding. 

"  We  chatted  on  various  topics  as  we  rode  along,  and 
in  two  hours  from  the  time  of  starting  we  reached  the 
cattle  camp.  There  was  a  herd  there  of  several  hundred 
cattle,  which  pretty  well  tilled  the  open  space  forming  the 
camp.  Half  a  dozen  stockmen  were  there  with  as  mam- 
black  fellows,  and  there  was  also  the  Melbourne  cattle 
dealer  with  two  or  three  assistants. 

"At  one  side  of  the  camp  there  was  a  little  hill  or 
mound,  and  Harry  and  I  went  there,  as  it  afforded  a  better 
view  of  the  camp  than  the   lower  ground.      It  was  a  very 


238  THE  LAND  OF  THE  KANGAROO. 

interesting  sight  that  we  had  from  the  mound.  The  mass 
of  cattle  was  moving  about  uneasily ;  the  bulls  were  bel- 
lowing, and  pawing,  and  having  an  occasional  fight;  the 
cows  were  lowing  for  their  calves,  from  which  they  had 
become  separated,  and  the  young  bullocks  were  making 
mild  disturbances  in  the  ways  peculiar  to  the  bovine  race. 
The  stockmen  and  black  fellows  were  kept  busy  in  pre- 
venting the  straying  of  the  animals,  but  even  with  all  their 
vigilance  a  refractory  animal  would  occasionally  break 
away  and  disappear  in  the  scrub.  The  cattle  dealer  had 
already  begun  to  select  his  purchases,  and  we  watched 
with  a  good  deal  of  interest  the  process  of  separating  them 
from  their  companions,  and  this  is  the  wa}r  they  did  it:  — 

"  They  cut  out  a  small  mob  of  cattle,  perhaps  a  dozen 
or  twenty  animals,  and  drove  them  off  to  one  side.  This 
was  called  the  draft  mob,  or  rather  it  was  the  beginning 
of  the  draft  mob.  The  cattle  that  were  picked  out  from 
the  rest  of  the  herd  were  put  with  these  in  order  to  keep 
them  quiet  while  the  operation  was  going  on,  and  then  the 
original  of  the  draft  mob  were  allowed  to  go  back  to  the 
rest  of  the  herd. 

"  The  cattle  selected  by  the  dealer  were  mostly  young 
and  fat  bullocks,  possessing  a  good  deal  of  strength  and 
tempers  of  their  own.  They  were  what  is  called  '  rowdy  ' 
in  this  country,  that  is,  they  were  badly  behaved,  and  it 
was  no  easy  job  for  the  stockmen  to  handle  them. 

"The  cattle  dealer  would  indicate  an  animal  that  he 
wanted,  and  then  two  of  the  stockmen  would  bring  the 
creature  out.  Generally  the  bullock  was  disinclined  to  go, 
and   made  things  pretty  lively   for  the  stockmen.     Each 


EXPERIENCES  AT  A  CATTLE  STATION.       239 

man  was  mounted  on  a  horse  that  knew  his  business  and 
had  done  the  same  kind  of  work  many  times  before.  The 
horses  stuck  to  their  work  just  as  earnestly  as  did  the 
riders,  and  whenever  a  bullock  tried  to  run  away  they  ran 
after  him,  and  kept  up  with  him,  too.  I  wonder  that 
horse  and  riders  did  not  break  their  necks  in  this  perform- 
ance, and  one  of  the  young  gentlemen  with  us  said  that 
accidents  were  by  no  means  infrequent.  He  said  that 
sometimes  the  bullocks  showed  a  tendency  to  use  their 
horns  and  charge  upon  the  men  and  their  horses  just  as  the 
bull  does  in  a  Spanish  bull-fight.  No  accident  happened 
while  we  were  looking  on,  and  for  this  I  am  very  thankful. 

"  One  by  one,  the  cattle  which  the  dealer  wanted  were 
separated  from  the  herd  and  placed  in  the  draft  mob  until 
their  number  amounted  to  eighty.  Then  the  animals 
originally  constituting  the  draft  mob  were  allowed  to  re- 
join the  herd,  and  the  herd  was  permitted  to  scatter  wher- 
ever it  liked.  The  draft  animals  were  then  taken  in  charge 
by  the  stockmen  and  started  on  the  road  to  Melbourne  ; 
perhaps  I  ought  to  say  that  they  were  started  for  the 
nearest  railway  station  and  completed  their  journey  with 
the  aid  of  steam. 

"  By  the  time  the  drafting  was  completed  the  sun  was 
past  the  meridian,  and  Harry  and  I  were  as  '  hungry  as 
hunters,'  to  use  the  old  expression.  We  thought  we  would 
have  to  ride  back  to  the  station  to  get  our  luncheon,  and 
were  agreeably  disappointed  when  we  found  that  a  black 
fellow  had  just  arrived  with  a  hamper,  or  rather  a  bag  of 
provisions,  tied  behind  his  saddle.  Our  host  led  the  way 
to  a  well-shaded  nook  where  there  was  a  spring  of  water, 


240 


THE    LAND    OF    THE    KANGAROO. 


and  we  gathered  around  the  spring  at  the  indication  of  our 
host,  and  prepared  to  do  justice  to  the  food  that  had  made 
such  a  welcome  appearance. 

"  A  fire  was  kindled  near  by,  and  soon  a  steaming  pot 
of  tea  was  ready.  Tin  cups  made  their  appearance  along 
with  tin  plates  and  knives  and  forks,  and  I  had  a  realizing 
sense  of  the  delicious  taste  of  a  cup  of  tea  in  the  open  air 
when  one  is  hungry.  The  luncheon  was  a  cold  one,  but 
it  was  abundantly  satisfying,  and  we  thanked  our  host  for 
his  thoughtfulness  in  providing  it. 

"When  we  were  near  the  end  of  our  meal,  one  of  the 
stockmen  came  in  and  said  something  in  a  low  tone  to 
Mr.  Syme. 

"The  latter  nodded  briefly,  and  said,  'All  right,'  and 
then  the  stockman  went  away. 

"  Then  Mr.  Syme  remarked,  turning  to  us  :  — 

"  <  On  our  way  back  to  the  station  well  go  by  a  dif- 
erent  road,  and  I  think  I  can  show  you  something  that 
will  be  new  to  you.' 

"  He  said  nothing  more,  and  left  us  to  wonder  what  the 
new  sight  would  be. 

"  I  forgot  to  mention  that  when  we  started  from  the 
station  we  were  accompanied  by  several  dogs.  They  had 
a  good  time  ranging  around  over  the  plain  and  through 
the  forest  after  the  manner  of  dogs  when  let  loose,  and 
seemed  to  enjoy  themselves  thoroughly.  They  were  large 
and  rather  lank  animals,  and  capable  of  making  high 
speed  when  necessary.  We  asked  our  entertainer  what 
they  were  specially  used  for,  and  were  told  that  the  animals 
were  kangaroo  dogs. 


EXPERIENCES    AT    A    CATTLE    STATION.  24I 

"  'We  use  them  for  hunting  kangaroos,'  said  the  young 
man  who  accompanied  me ;  '  and  a  well-trained  kan- 
garoo dog  is  a  valuable  piece  of  property  to  have.  The  ^ 
kangaroo  is  an  ungainly  looking  creature,  but  he  can  get 
over  the  ground  with  wonderful  rapidity.  He  goes  four- 
teen or  sixteen  feet  at  a  jump,  and  he  can  jump  at  a  very 
lively  rate.  Ordinary  fences  are  nothing  to  him,  as  he  can 
clear  a  six-foot  fence  at  a  single  bound.' 

' '  While  we  were  at  luncheon  the  dogs  were  close  about 
us  on  a  keen  lookout  for  any  scraps  or  slices  of  meat  that 
came  in  their  wray. 

"  The  remains  of  the  luncheon  were  given  to  them  after 
the  black  fellow  Jack  had  been  duly  cared  for,  but  there 
wasn't  enough  of  the  provisions  remaining  to  give  the 
animals  an  cverdose. 

"When  all  was  ready  we  mounted  our  horses,  and  our 
host  led  the  way,  first  announcing  that  he  would  show  us 
some  wild  kangaroos.  We  came  out  on  the  plain,  and 
after  riding  three  or  four  miles,  approached  a  clump  of 
low  trees  and  bushes,  which  was  pointed  out  by  the  stock- 
man whom  I   mentioned. 

"  '  There  are  the  kangaroos,'  said  Mr.  Syme  ;  '  we  will 
go  in  on  one  side  of  the  clump,  and  give  them  a  chance  to 
make  a  run.' 

"Following  his  directions,  we  spread  out  into  a  some- 
what extended  line  and  approached  the  bunch  of  timber 
from  the  northern  side.  The  dogs  began  to  show  uneasi- 
ness, but  were  held  in  check  by  their  young  masters,  who 
spoke  to  them  in  very  emphatic  tones. 

"  We  advanced  a  short  distance  into  the  bushes,  keeping 


242  THE  LAND  OF  THE  KANGAROO. 

in  line  as  well  as  we  could.  Suddenly  there  was  a  great 
stir  and  a  series  of  sounds,  as  though  some  one  was  pound- 
ing violently  on  the  ground  with  a  club. 

"  '  There  they  go  ! '  shouted  Mr.  Syme.  '  Let  off  the 
dogs ! ' 

"  Evidently  the  dogs  understood  what  he  said,  as  they 
did  not  wait  for  the  permission  of  their  young  masters. 
Away  they  went  at  full  speed  after  the  kangaroos.  There 
must  have  been  twenty  or  thirty  of  the  latter  making  off 
across  the  plain  in  a  southerly  direction,  but  run  as  fast  as 
they  did,  the  dogs  could  not  keep  up  with  those  high- jump- 
ing creatures.  The  speed  was  something  prodigious.  Our 
whole  party  started  in  full  gallop  behind  the  dogs,  the 
horses  seeming  to  enter  into  the  spirit  of  the  race  quite  as 
much  as  did  their  riders. 

"There  wasn't  much  chance  for  conversation  during 
this  run,  but  the  young  man  who  was  acting  as  my  escort 
managed  to  tell  me  that  we  would  have  a  race  of  about 
three  miles.  '  The  kangaroo  always  runs  for  water,'  he 
said ;  '  and  the  nearest  water  in  that  direction  is  about 
three  miles  away.  They'll  fetch  up  at  a  small  pond  and 
make  a  stand  there.' 

"I  learned  afterward  that  this  was  a  peculiarity  of  the 
kangaroo,  to  seek  water  whenever  he  is  pursued.  The 
country  over  which  we  rode  was  not  the  smoothest  in 
the  world,  being  broken  in  some  places  by  rocks,  and  en- 
cumbered by  fallen  timber  in  others.  Here  is  where  the 
jumping  powers  of  the  kangaroo  came  in  handily,  as  he 
could  clear  rocks  and  logs  with  the  utmost  facility,  and 
he  had  the  ability  to  select  a  comparatively  smooth  spot  to 


THERE  THEY  GO!"  SHOUTED   MR. 


EXPERIENCES  AT  A  CATTLE  STATION.       243 

come  down  upon.  His  jumping  is  done  with  the  muscles 
of  his  very  powerful  hind  legs.  He  doesn't  use  his  fore 
legs  at  all  in  walking  or  jumping,  employing  them  prin- 
cipally as  hands  and  arms,  very  much  as  the  American 
squirrel  uses  his  paws.  He  can  give  a  tremendous  hug 
with  his  fore  legs,  and  that  is  one  of  his  methods  of 
fighting. 

"This  is  a  good  place  to  say  something  about  the 
natural  history  of  the  kangaroo. 

"  Australia  is,  emphatically,  the  home  of  this  animal,  as 
he  is  found  in  a  wild  state  in  no  other  part  of  the  world. 
Nearly  all  of  the  Australian  animals  are  marsupials  ;  that 
is,  they  have  pouches  in  which  their  young  are  carried 
until  able  to  take  care  of  themselves.  Of  the  large  kanga- 
roo  there  are  eight  species,  and  the  largest  of  them  are 
fully  six  feet  in  height  and  weigh  one  hundred  and 
fifty  pounds  or  more.  Geologists  say  that  at  one  time 
there  were,  in  Australia,  marsupial  animals  closely  resem- 
bling the  kangaroo  but  equaling  the  rhinoceros  in  size. 
They  must  have  been  formidable  fellows  to  attack ! 

"The  largest  of  all  the  kangaroos  is  the  red  one,  and 
he  is  the  one  that  we  hunted.  Of  the  small  kangaroos, 
weighing,  say  from  ten  to  fifteen  pounds,  there  are  seven- 
teen species.  Away  in  the  interior  of  Australia  there  are 
some  silky-haired  kangaroos  about  the  size  of  an  ordinary 
rabbit,  and  there  are  several  varieties  still  smaller,  until  you 
get  down  to  those  about  as  large  as  an  ordinary  squirrel. 
All  of  them  are  easily  domesticated  if  taken  when  young, 
and  the}'  are  very  gentle  pets.  They  tell  me  that  they  had 
two  at  this  station  last  year,  and  the  dogs,  whose  business 


244  THE  LAND  OF  THE  KANGAROO. 

it  was  to  hunt  the  kangaroo,  clearly  understood  that  they 
must  leave  these  pet  ones  alone.  Not  only  did  they  not 
harm  the  animals,  but  got  on  very  good  terms  with  them,  so 
that  it  was  no  uncommon  sight  to  see  the  kangaroos  and 
the  dogs  lying  down  together  in  a  very  well-mannered 
group.  But  one  day,  while  the  pets  were  in  the  front  of 
the  house,  a  pack  of  strange  dogs  happened  along  and 
killed  them. 

"  We  didn't  overtake  the  kangaroos  until  they  reached 
the  water ;  in  fact,  we  heard  the  loud  barking  of  the  dogs 
before  we  came  in  sight  of  the  pond.  One  of  the  largest 
males,  commonly  denominated  here  as  an  '  old  man,'  was 
on  a  little  mound  of  earth  just  even  with  the  surface  of 
the  water,  while  around  him  was  a  depth  of  about  four 
feet.  The  dogs  in  front  of  him  were  at  a  respectful  dis- 
tance, as  they  had  a  great  dread  of  and  respect  for  his 
hind  feet,  which  are  a  part  of  his  fighting  equipment. 
The  kangaroo's  hind  foot  has  three  very  strong  toes,  the 
center  one  especially  so.  His  method  is  to  seize  his 
assailant  with  his  fore  paws,  and  rip  him  to  death  with 
his  hinder  ones,  and  sometimes  he  drowns  a  dog  by  hold- 
ing him  under  water.  Many  an  incautious  or  verdant 
dog  has  been  killed  in  this  way,  and  occasionally  men 
have  fallen  victims  to  the  powerful  hind  feet  of  these 
animals. 

"The  'old  man'  kangaroo  was  defending  himself 
bravely,  and  he  had  his  assailants  at  an  advantage.  The 
water  was  too  deep  for  them  to  wade  in.  Some  were 
swimming  about  in  front  of  him,  carefully  keeping  out 
of  reach,  while  others  were  assailing  his  back.     All  of  the 


EXPERIENCES    AT    A    CATTLE    STATION.  245 

dogs  kept  up  a  loud  barking,  and  kept  looking  around 
for  human  help. 

"  The  kangaroo  was  more  than  fifty  feet  from  the 
shore  of  the  pond  or  pool,  and  when  our  party  reached 
it,  the  animal  was  despatched  by  means  of  a  rifle  in  the 
hands  of  one  of  our  party.  The  carcass  was  brought  to 
the  shore  and  skinned,  and  a  portion  of  the  meat  was  fed 
to  the  dogs  as  a  reward  for  their  exertions,  and  they  ate 
it  with  avidity.  In  addition  to  the  '  old  man,'  we  killed 
a  young  kangaroo,  and  the  carcass,  after  being  disem- 
boweled, was  placed  on  the  black  fellow's  horse  and  sent 
to  the  station. 

"We  had  kangaroo  steaks  for  dinner,  and  very  tooth- 
some they  were,  reminding  us  more  of  mutton  than  any 
other  meat.  These  steaks  came  from  the  young  kan- 
garoo I  just  mentioned.  The  flesh  of  the  '  old  man '  is  too 
rank  for  human  food,  though  it  is  sometimes  eaten  when 
no  other  food  is  to  be  had.     The  flesh  of  the  vouncr  kan- 

J  O 

garoo  is  put  up  at  meat-canning  establishments  for  trans- 
portation to  England,  and  they  also  export  large  quantities 
of  soup  made  from  kangaroo  tails.  Some  people  think 
this  soup  is  preferable  to  ox  tail,  or  even  to  turtle.  I  asked 
one  of  our  friends  about  it,  and  he  said,  with  a  smile,  that 
it  was  better  when  you  couldn't  get  either  of  the  others. 
It  is  certainly  an  excellent  soup,  and  it's  a  pity  that  so 
much  of  the  raw  material  goes  to  waste. 

"  In  returning  from  our  hunt  we  crossed  a  portion  of 
the  ground  where  we  had  chased  the  kangaroos.  One  of 
the  dogs  scented  something  in  the  grass,  and  barked  in  a 
maimer  to   attract  the   attention  of  his  owners.      The  men 


246  THE  LAND  OF  THE  KANGAROO. 

hastened  to  the  spot  and  found  a  '  joey,'  or  baby  kan- 
garoo, which  its  mother  had  taken  out  of  her  pouch  and 
laid  upon  the  soft  grass,  intending  to  return  and  pick  it  up 
after  the  danger  was  over.  It  was  a  pretty  little  creature, 
about  a  foot  long,  and  covered  with  soft,  silky  hair.  One 
of  the  young  men  took  charge  of  it  and  carried  it  care- 
fully to  the  station,  his  intention  being  to  raise  it  and  make 
a  pet  of  it,  as  he  had  made  pets  of  the  kangaroos  that  they 
lost  the  year  before.  When  taken  at  this  age,  the  kan- 
garoo becomes  perfectly  docile,  and  never  shows  the  least 
desire  for  a  wild  life. 

"  Our  host  told  us  that  when  the  kangaroos  are  hunted, 
and  there  is  no  water  within  reach,  an  '  old  man,'  if 
cornered,  will  place  his  back  against  a  tree  and  sell  his 
life  as  dearly  as  possible.  It  is  very  dangerous  to  go  near 
him  when  he  is  thus  defending  himself,  and  it  is  consid- 
ered a  fortunate  circumstance  in  a  fight  of  this  kind  if 
none  of  the  dogs  are  killed  or  injured. 

"When  the  first  settlements  were  made  in  Australia 
the  kangaroos  were  not  especially  numerous,  though  they 
were  probably  more  abundant  than  any  other  animals. 
Their  numbers  were  kept  down  by  the  aboriginals,  who 
used  to  hunt  them  for  food  and  clothing,  for  which  the 
kangaroo  skin  was  used,  and  they  were  also  kept  down 
by  the  dingoes,  or  wild  dogs.  The  dingoes  were  then 
abundant,  and  unhappily  they  were  fond  of  mutton,  and 
when  sheep  were  brought  to  Australia  the  flocks  were 
very  much  reduced  by  the  operations  of  the  wild  dogs. 
Of  course,  the  sheep  raisers  took  vengeance  on  the  din- 
goes, and  poisoned  them  in  great  numbers. 


Experiences  at  a  cattle  station.  247 

"  At  the  same  time,  the  aboriginals  diminished  steadily 
in  number,  owing  to  causes  previously  stated,  and  those 
that  remained  preferred  to  live  upon  mutton  and  beef  ob- 
tained from  the  settlers  rather  than  take  the  trouble  of 
hunting  the  kangaroo.  Thus,  the  two  natural  enemies  of 
that  animal  were  removed,  and  with  their  immunity  from 
destruction  the  kangaroos  increased  at  a  terrific  rate. 
Their  flocks  and  herds  blackened  the  fields  for  miles. 
They  were  frequently  to  be  seen  feeding  among  the  sheep, 
and  as  one  kangaroo  eats  as  much  grass  as  three  sheep,  it 
will  readily  be  understood  that  the  sheep  farmer's  flocks 
were  in  danger  of  being  starved  out. 

"  Millions  of  acres  of  land  were  thus  rendered  unfit  for 
sheep  or  cattle  pasturage.  The  settlers  presented  their 
case  to  the  colonial  governments,  and  the  latter  placed  a 
bounty  on  kangaroo  scalps.  Meantime,  it  was  found  that 
the  skins  were  worth  something,  and  then  the  slaughter  of 
the  creatures  began. 

"  Hunting  with  dogs  in  the  way  I  have  already  de- 
scribed was  altogether  too  slow,  and  a  quicker  method 
was  devised  and  found  successful.  This  is  the  way 
of    it:  — 

"  A  clump  of  trees  a  few  acres  in  extent  is  selected  as  a 
central  point.  Among  these  trees  a  stout  yard  is  built, 
with  a  fence  not  less  than  ten  feet  high  and  strong  enough 
to  resist  any  attack  the  kangaroo  can  make.  From  the 
entrance  of  this  yard  two  diverging  fences  of  a  somewhat 
lighter  character  are  built  out  upon  the  plain,  the  point  of 
the  fences  where  thev  terminate  being  not  less  than  a  mile 
apart.    When  all  is  read}',  a  day  is  appointed  for  the  hunt, 


248  THE  LAND  OF  THE  KANGAROO. 

and  notice  is  sent  to  everybody  within  thirty  or  forty  miles. 
The  hunt  is  in  charge  of  one  of  the  oldest  settlers,  and 
everybody  is  bound  to  obey  his  orders. 

"  The  day  before  the  hunt  or  drive  is  to  take  place,  the 
principal  men  to  engage  in  it  meet  at  the  house  of  the 
leader  and  receive  their  orders.  All  the  squatters  and 
other  settlers  who  can  do  so  come  to  the  hut,  and  with 
them  all  their  stockmen  and  black  fellows  who  can  be 
spared  from  their  daily  work.  Sometimes  as  many  as  a 
hundred  people  take  part  in  the  drive,  and  they  are  spread 
out  in  such  a  way  as  to  include  a  very  large  area  of 
ground. 

"At  the  appointed  hour,  they  begin  to  move  in  a  long 
line  in  the  direction  of  the  clump  of  bushes  where  the  yard 
is  located,  or  rather  in  the  direction  of  the  jaws  of  the 
extended  fences.  Whatever  kangaroos  there  may  be  in 
the  area  of  the  country  enclosed  by  the  hunters  are 
driven  in  the  direction  of  the  yard,  and  the  driving  is  done 
very  quietly,  to  avoid  alarming  the  animals  before  the  ends 
of  the  line  of  men  reach  the  ends  of  the  diverging  fence. 
When  this  takes  place  the  drive  is  pushed  more  rapidly, 
and  the  thoroughly  frightened  animals  make  rapid  leaps 
in  the  direction  of  the  clump  of  timber,  not  suspecting  that 
in  doing  so  they  are  going  to  their  death.  Before  they  are 
aware  of  it  they  are  inside  the  yard,  and  as  the  last  of  the 
drove  enters,  the  gate  is  closed  and  the  animals  are  hope- 
lessly imprisoned. 

"  Sometimes  thousands  of  kangaroos  are  taken  in  a 
single  drive,  and  the  bounty  obtained  from  the  government, 
added  to  the  value  of   the   hides,  is  divided  among  those 


EXPERIENCES  AT  A  CATTLE  STATION.       249 

who  have  participated  in  the  hunt,  or  it  may  be  applied  to 
some  needed  public  work  in  the  neighborhood. 

"  The  hides  are  pegged  out  and  dried,  and  after  being 
packed  into  bales  they  are  shipped  to  various  parts  of  the 
world.  There  is  an  increasing  demand  in  the  United 
States  for  kangaroo  leather,  as  you  are  doubtless  aware. 
Kangaroo  flesh  is  put  into  tin  cans  for  the  market,  but  by 
far  the  greater  part  of  the  meat  obtained  from  a  single 
drive  is  left  on  the  ground. 

"  Mr.  Svme  tells  us  that  when  the  aboriginals  used  to 
hunt  the  kangaroos,  they  killed  them  with  the  boomerang 
or  the  spear.  In  hunting  with  the  boomerang,  they  would 
creep  up  very  slowly  until  within  range,  and  whenever  they 
threw  the  weapon,  it  was  generally  with  fatal  effect.  In 
hunting  with  the  spear,  a  native  used  to  dress  up  so  as  to 
look  like  a  bush,  by  surrounding  himself  with  twigs  and 
vines.  He  carried  his  spear  in  an  upright  position,  so  that 
it  appeared  to  form  an  apex  of  the  bush.  Then  he  walked 
slowly  along,  standing  perfectly  still  when  the  kangaroo 
raised  its  head  to  look  around,  and  only  moving  while  the 
animal  grazed.  In  this  way,  and  by  taking  plenty  of 
time,  he  would  get  up  within  spear-throwing  distance,  and 
the  rest  of  the  story  tells  itself." 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

HUNTING    THE    EMU    AND    OTHER    BIRDS AN    AUSTRALIAN 

SHEEP    RUN. 

IT  was  pretty  well  along  in  the  afternoon  when  the  party 
reached  the  station  on  its  return.  Our  friends  agreed 
that  they  had  had  an  excellent  day,  and  the  sights  they 
had  witnessed  were  full  of  interest. 

Mr.  Syme  asked  the  doctor  and  our  young  friends  if 
they  were  good  shots  with  the  rifle  or  shot-gun.  They 
modestly  and  truthfully  answered  that  they  had  had  yery 
little  experience  in  shooting,  but  were  willing  to  make  a 
trial  of  their  skill. 

"  Very  well,"  said  the  host,  "  we  will  go  out  to-morrow 
and  make  an  effort  to  obtain  some  birds.  We  will  begin 
with  the  largest  bird  of  Australia,  the  emu,  and  see  what 
luck  we  can  haye  with  him." 

"I've  read  about  that  bird,"  said  Harry;  "he  doesn't 
fly,  but  he  can  run  very  fast.  I  have  read  that  he  will  out- 
run a  horse  ;  is  that  really  so?  " 

"  Yes,"  was  the  reply  ;  "he  can  outrun  most  horses  ;  in 
fact,  it  requires  an  exceedingly  fleet  steed  to  overtake  him. 
It  is  very  little  use  to  try  to  run  him  down  by  a  dead  chase 
after  him.  The  best  way  is  to  station  the  horses  along  in 
a  line   about  half  a  mile  or  so  apart,  and  then  chase  the 

bird  in  their  direction.     Each  horseman  takes  up  the  chase 

250 


HUNTING    THE    EMU    AND    OTHER    BIRDS.  25 1 

with  a  fresh  animal  until  the  emu  is  tired  out,  and  then  the 
dogs  are  sent  in  to  finish  the  work." 

Our  young  friends  slept  well  that  night,  the  result  of 
their  exercise  on  horseback  in  the  open  air ;  in  fact,  they 
didn't  care  to  sit  up  late,  and  retired  much  earlier  than  on 
the  previous  evening. 

The  next  morning  the  party  started  very  soon  after 
breakfast,  and  the  way  was  taken  to  an  open  plain,  three 
or  four  miles  across,  and  fringed  with  timber.  When 
they  neared  the  plain  they  met  a  black  fellow,  who  had 
been  sent  out  early  in  the  morning  to  find  the  game.  He 
had  found  it,  and  informed  his  master  where  it  was. 

Then  the  horsemen  were  spread  out  in  the  manner 
already  mentioned,  and  the  bird  was  started  out  of  a  little 
clump  of  timber  where  they  had  taken  shelter.  Harry 
and  Ned  were  surprised  to  see  the  manner  in  which  he 
ran.  He  seemed  to  be  ready  to  drop  with  exhaustion,  and 
Harry  confidently  predicted  that  he  would  fall  dead  from 
fright  before  going  a  mile.  But  somehow  he  managed 
to  keep  in  advance  of  his  pursuers,  and  whenever  they 
quickened  their  pace  he  quickened  his,  but  all  the  time 
keeping  up  the  appearance  of  weariness.  The  last  of  the 
horsemen,  however,  approached  within  two  hundred  yards 
of  the  emu,  who  was  by  this  time  really  tired.  Then  the 
dogs  were  turned  loose,  and  they  speedily  overtook  the 
bird  and  pulled  him  down.  One  of  the  dogs  was  quite 
severely  injured  in  the  fight  with  the  bird,  but  his  wounds 
were  dressed  and  bandaged,  and  his  owners  said  he  would 
soon  be  well  again. 

The  emu  is  called   the   Australian   ostrich,  and  he  re- 


252  THE  LAND  OF  THE  KANGAROO. 

sembles  that  bird  in  being  unable  to  fly,  running  with 
great  rapidity  and  using  his  feet  for  fighting  purposes. 
He  strikes  a  heavy  blow  with  his  foot,  and  a  single  stroke 
of  it  is  sufficient  to  disable  a  dog  or  break  a  man's  leg. 
The  young  man  who  accompanied  Harry  told  him  that  he 
knew  of  an  instance  where  an  emu  was  chased  and  over- 
taken by  a  man  on  horseback,  accompanied  by  dogs.  The 
bird  became  desperate  at  finding  he  could  not  escape.  As 
the  horse  approached,  the  bird  threw  itself  on  its  back  and 
kicked  savagely,  ripping  the  side  of  the  animal  with  its 
claws.  The  horse  was  so  badly  lacerated  that  it  was 
necessary  to  shoot  him. 

If  caught  when  young  or  hatched  out  from  an  egg,  the 
emu  can  be  easily  domesticated,  but  he  is  a  dangerous  pet  to 
have  about  the  premises.  Like  the  ostrich,  it  has  a  love  for 
bright  things,  and  has  been  known  to  swallow  silver  spoons 
and  other  shining  articles.  One  day  a  stranger,  standing 
close  to  the  fence  of  a  yard  where  a  tame  emu  was  kept, 
took  out  his  gold  watch  to  ascertain  the  time.  The  bird 
was  attracted  by  the  glittering  object,  and  with  a  quick 
motion  he  seized  it  and  dropped  it  down  his  throat.  Sev- 
eral black  fellows  were  called,  who  secured  the  bird  with 
some  difficulty,  poured  a  powerful  emetic  into  his  stomach, 
and  then  hung  him  up  by  the  feet.  This  heroic  treatment 
had  the  desired  effect,  and  restored  the  watch  to  its  owner. 

The  eggs  of  the  emu  are  in  demand  as  great  curiosities, 
and  Australian  jewelers  work  them  into  various  orna- 
mented articles  and  sell  them  readily  at  a  high  price.  The 
perpetual  hunt  for  the  eggs,  which  is  kept  up  by  the 
blacks,  is  steadily  diminishing  the  number  of  these  birds, 


HUNTING    THE    EMU    AND    OTHER    BIRDS.  253 

and,  in  course  of  time,  there  is  danger  that  they  will  be- 
come extinct. 

Another  bird  that  was  seen  by  our  friends,  but  not  cap- 
tured, is  the  one  known  as  the  native  companion.  It  is  a 
large  bird,  belonging  to  the  crane  family.  Its  head  stands 
about  three  feet  from  the  ground,  its  legs  are  long,  and  its 
plumage  is  a  lavender  gray.  It  is  rarely  seen  alone,  there 
being  generally  two  of  them  together,  and  very  often  a 
dozen  or  more.  In  this  instance  there  were  two  birds, 
which  went  away  rapidly  on  their  wings  and  were  soon 
lost  to  sight.  When  there  is  a  large  number  of  them  to- 
gether, they  indulge  in  a  series  of  evolutions  which  have 
a  close  resemblance  to  the  movements  of  accomplished 
dancers.  They  advance,  recede,  turn,  return,  and  go 
through  a  variet}'  of  figures  like  dancers  in  the  quadrille 
or  the  minuet.  Sometimes  they  keep  up  these  perform- 
ances for  an  hour  or  more,  and  seem  to  indulge  in  them  en- 
tirely for  the  sake  of  amusement. 

Harry  asked  if  they  would  have  an  opportunity  to  see 
the  famous  lyre  bird  of  Australia.  "We  saw  two  of 
them,"  said  he,  "in  the  Zoo  at  Melbourne,  and  therefore, 
know  what  their  appearance  is,  but  we  would  like  very 
much  to  see  them  in  their  wild  state. 

"The  lyre  bird  is  getting  very  scarce  in  Australia,'' 
said  their  young  friend,  "  and  I  have  never  seen  one  in 
this  locality.  The  bird  frequents  mountainous  regions 
where  the  forests  are  somewhat  dense,  and  very  rarely 
comes  out  into  the  open  plain.  It  is  about  the  size  of  an 
ordinary  barnyard  fowl,  but  looks  much  larger,  owing  to 
its  beautiful  tail,  which  is  very  long,  and  grows  exactly 


254  THE  LAND  OF  THE  KANGAROO. 

in  the  shape  of  the  instrument  after  which  it  is  named. 
It  is  a  very  clever  mocking  bird,  and  will  reproduce  the 
notes  of  all  its  forest  companions,  but  it  is  very  shy  and 
difficult  to  get  at,  and  unless  it  is  got  when  very  young  it 
cannot  be  domesticated. 

"We  have  wild  turkeys  here,"  continued  their  in- 
formant; "  and  they  are  very  good  eating  ;  perhaps  some 
of  our  party  will  be  fortunate  enough  to  bring  down  a 
turkey  or  two  before  we  go  back.  There  is  one  fowl 
here  called  the  mallee  bird,  about  the  size  of  the  pheasant, 
and  resembling  him  in  many  ways.  He  generally  lives 
near  the  edge  of  the  mallee  scrub,  and  his  flesh  is  very 
much  esteemed  by  all  who  have  eaten  it.  The  mallee 
is  a  gregarious  bird,  and  at  the  breeding  season  large 
numbers  of  them  come  together.  They  collect  great 
heaps  of  dry  leaves,  among  which  a  number  of  hen  birds 
lay  their  eggs,  indiscriminately  taking  care  to  cover  them 
up  warmly. 

"They  dont  take  any  trouble  to  hatch  their  eggs,  but 
leave  that  for  the  heat  of  the  dry  and  decaying  vegetable 
matter.  When  the  time  approaches  for  the  chicks  to 
break  the  shell,  the  male  birds  hover  about  on  the  watch 
for  their  appearance,  and  snakes,  also,  like  to  come 
around,  in  the  hopes  of  securing  a  few  of  the  tender  birds 
as  they  emerge  into  daylight.  When  the  chick  comes 
out  from  the  egg,  his  skin  is  pink  and  bare,  and  hardly 
a  sio-n  of  a  feather  is  visible  ;  but  within  twenty-four  hours, 
during  which  the  feathers  spread  so  rapidly  that  you  can 
almost  see  their  growth,  the  bird  is  fully  fledged  and 
feathered,  and  able  to  take  care  of  itself." 


HUNTING    THE    EMU    AND    OTHER    BIRDS.  255 

An  amusing  circumstance  happened  during  the  day's 
excursion.  Ned  was  the  victim  of  it,  and  he  did  not  con- 
sider it  at  all  amusing  until  after  it  was  all  over.  This 
was  the  way  of  it :  — 

While  the  party  was  halted  at  one  time,  discussing 
where  next  they  would  go,  the  dogs  disturbed  something, 
but  neither  of  our  young  friends  could  make  out  what  it 
was.  They  were  in  the  open  country  at  the  time,  though 
not  far  from  the  edge  of  the  bush.  The  something-  that 
the  dogs  had  disturbed  came  directly  towards  the  party, 
and  Ned  happened  to  be  nearer  to  it  than  anvbody  else. 
The  creature  looked  like  a  small  alligator,  and  that's  what 
Ned  and  Harry  thought  it  was.  Ned  had  dismounted 
from  his  horse  and  was  standing  by  the  animal's  head, 
waiting  for  the  decision  about  their  movements.  The  an- 
imal came  directly  up  to  Ned  and  climbed  up  his  side. 
It  was  about  five  feet  long,  and  a  very  formidable-looking 
creature.  The  youth  immediately  began  fighting  the 
animal,  and  shouted  for  his  friends  to  pull  him  off. 

"  Lie  down  on  the  ground,"  said  one  of  the  Austral- 
ians ;  "  lie  down  on  the  ground,  and  he  will  leave  vou  at 
once.      He  is  just  as  much  frightened  as  you  are." 

Ned  flung  his  horse's  bridle  to  one  of  his  friends,  and 
then  obeyed  instructions.  He  dropped  to  the  ground,  and 
immediately  as  he  did  so  the  horrid-looking  creature  left 
him. 

"  What  in  the  world  is  that?"  said  Ned,  as  he  rose  to 
his  feet  again  and  regained  his  composure. 

"That's  an  iguana,  or  lizard,"  was  the  reply.  "It  is 
perfectly  harmless  as  long  as  you  know  how  to  deal  with 


256  THE  LAND  OF  THE  KANGAROO. 

it.  When  it  is  pursued  by  dogs,  it  runs  to  its  hole  if  it 
can ;  if  its  hole  is  not  available,  it  climbs  a  tree  until  it  is 
out  of  reach  of  its  pursuers,  and  if  no  tree  is  at  hand,  it 
will  climb  on  a  man  or  a  horse.  It  selected  you  as  a 
place  of  shelter,  and  I  warrant  it  was  more  scared  than 
you  were." 

"  It  might  be  easily  mistaken  for  an  alligator,"  said 
Ned,  surveying  the  animal  as  it  was  stretched  on  the 
ground,  having  been  killed  by  a  blow  on  the  head  from 
the  butt  of  a  stockman's  whip. 

"Yes,  it  is  often  mistaken  for  a  young  alligator,  j 
have  known  of  an  iguana  to  appear  in  a  party  of  pleasure 
seekers,  picnicking  in  the  woods,  and  make  quite  a  serious 
disturbance.  The  ladies  screamed  and  fled  and  some  of 
them  fainted.  Some  of  the  men  fled,  too,  but  those  who 
knew  about  the  creature  quickly  despatched  him." 

"  Is  it  useful  for  food  ?  " 

"Yes;  the  blacks  use  it,  and  are  very  fond  of  it,  but 
white  men  don't  '  hanker  after  it,'  as  your  American 
phrase  is.  However,  those  who  have  been  bold  enough 
to  taste  it  assert  that,  when  well  cooked,  the  flavor  is  ex- 
cellent." 

"Well,  it  doesn't  look  very  inviting,"  Ned  remarked ; 
"  and  I  don't  think  I  would  care  for  iguana  for  dinner." 

"You  may  not  care  for  it,"  was  the  reply,  "but  the 
black  fellows  will.  Here,  Jack,"  he  continued,  addressing 
the  aboriginal,  "  you  can  have  this." 

Jack  needed  no  second  invitation.  With  a  smile  on  his 
face,  he  quickly  took  possession  of  the  huge  lizard  and 
strapped    it    to    his   saddle.     No   doubt   the    meat    of  the 


HUNTING    THE    EMU    AND    OTHER    BIRDS.  257 

iguana  gave  the  blacks  at  the  station  a  supper  that  they 
greatly  enjoyed. 

Another  day  was  spent  at  the  cattle  station,  Harry  and 
Ned  going  out  with  one  of  the  stockmen  and  accompany- 
ing him  on  his  morning  round.  Dr.  Whitney  thought  he 
did  not  care  for  any  more  horseback  exercise  just  then, 
and  spent  the  day  around  the  station.  The  youths  enjoyed 
their  ride  very  much,  and  returned  to  the  house  in  time  for 
luncheon. 

It  had  been  arranged  that  our  young  friends  should  visit 
a  sheep  run  about  twenty  miles  away,  and  on  the  morning 
of  the  fourth  day  Mr.  Syme  took  them  in  his  covered 
wagon  to  their  destination.  The  road  was  not  a  very 
smooth  one,  but  the  wagon,  which  was  well  built,  suffered 
no  injury,  and  as  for  the  passengers,  they  did  not  mind  a 
little  jolting.  They  reached  their  destination  with  very 
sharp  appetites,  and  evidently  their  new  host,  Mr.  John- 
son, was  aware  of  what  their  condition  would  be,  as  a 
substantial  meal  was  on  the  table  a  few  minutes  after  their 
arrival ;  and  you  may  be  sure  that  it  received  ample  atten- 
tion from  the  strangers. 

After  the  meal  was  over,  the  party  went  out  for  a  stroll 
among  the  buildings  connected  with  the  station.  The 
house  where  the  owner  lived  was  a  solidly  built  affair,  not 
unlike  the  one  they  had  sojourned  in  for  a  few  days  at  the 
cattle  station.  There  was  this  difference,  however,  that 
it  was  elevated  on  posts  about  six  feet  from  the  ground, 
giving  free  circulation  of  air  beneath  it,  and  furnishing  a 
good  place  of  storage  for  various  things  connected  with 
the  station. 


258  THE  LAND  OF  THE  KANGAROO. 

In  reply  to  an  inquiry  by  Harry,  Mr.  Johnson  said  that 
this  arrangement  of  the  building  was  a  good  one  to  keep 
out  snakes.  "  It  doesn't  keep  them  out  altogether,"  said 
he,  "  as  there  are  snakes  that  will  climb  posts,  but  ordi- 
narily serpents  do  not  attempt  that  performance.  When  I 
first  came  to  Australia,  I  lived  in  a  house  which  stood  right 
on  the  ground.  The  region  was  a  snaky  one,  and  every 
little  while  we  would  find  a  snake  in  the  house,  and  have 
a  lively  time  driving  him  out  or  killing  him.  None  of  the 
family  was  ever  bitten  by  a  snake,  but  we  certainly  had 
some  narrow  escapes.  When  I  came  here  and  built  this 
house,  I  determined  to  have  a  dwelling  which  these  un- 
pleasant visitors  could  not  easily  enter." 

Harry  remarked  that  a  snake-proof  house  was  certainly 
quite  to  his  liking,  and  he  hoped  the  building  would  con- 
tinue to  display  its  admirable  qualities  as  long  as  he  re- 
mained there. 

The  youths  were  impressed  with  the  size  and  extent  of 
the  wool  shed  belonging  to  the  establishment,  and  Ned 
remarked  that  they  must  have  a  very  active  time  during 
the  shearing  season. 

"It  is  our  most  active  time,"  was  the  reply;  "the 
busiest  of  all  the  year.  Ordinarily  the  life  on  a  sheep 
run  is  quiet  and  humdrum,  but  when  shearing  time  begins 
everything  is  lively.  We  engage  the  shearers  as  they 
come  along,  in  parties  or  gangs.  They  are  a  difficult  lot 
of  men  to  deal  with,  as  they  have  a  very  powerful  trade 
union  which  stands  by  its  members,  with  little  regard  to 
right  or  wrong.  The  shearing  is  done  by  piece  work. 
We   used  to   pay   three   pence   for  shearing   a   sheep,   or 


HUNTING    THE    EMU    AND    OTHER    BIRDS.  259 

rather  we  paid  five  shillings  a  score.  A  good  shearer  can 
do  fourscore  in  a  day,  and  consequently  he  earns  twenty 
shillings  or  one  sovereign.  That's  pretty  good  pay,  isn't 
it?" 

"Seems  to  me  that  it  is,"  replied  Harry.  "Do  you 
board  the  shearers,  or  do  they  find  themselves  ?  " 

"  Oh,  we  have  to  board  them,  of  course,  and  we  have 
to  board  their  horses,  as  most  of  the  shearers  travel  on 
horseback.  But  the  feed  of  a  horse  isn't  of  much  conse- 
quence, as  we  simply  turn  him  into  the  paddock  and  let 
him  graze  there.  Sometimes  we  hire  a  tiddler  to  play  for 
the  men  while  they  are  at  work  in  the  shearing  house,  and 
also  in  the  evening,  when  they  are  off  duty.  Sometimes 
a  gang  of  shearers  brings  along  its  own  cook.  They  pay 
the  cook's  wages  themselves,  but  the  emplover  supplies 
the  material  out  of  which  the  shearers'  meals  are  made. 
These  fellows  are  very  particular  as  to  their  treatment,  and 
if  they  feel  that  they  are  ill-used  in  any  way,  they  are  liable 
to  quit  work  and  go  awav.'" 

"They  ought  to  earn  a  very  nice  little  sum  of  money 
during  the  shearing  season,"  observed  Ilarrv. 

"They  certainly  do,"  was  the  reply;  "  especially  as, 
for  the  last  two  years,  they  have  demanded  four  pence  and 
even  five  pence  for  each  sheep  sheared.  I  expect  they'll 
get  it  up  in  time  so  as  to  take  most  of  the  profits  of  the 
business.  It  makes  little  difference  to  the  great  majority 
of  them  how  much  they  get  tor  their  work,  as  it  is  gener- 
ally gone  by  the  end  of  the  shearing  season." 

"That  reminds  me,"  said  Mr.  Johnson,  "of  the  visit 
of    a  gentleman    from    Melbourne   to  a   sheep   station   up 


260  THE  LAND  OF  THE  KANGAROO. 

country-  He  went  there  with  a  friend,  reaching  the  station 
about  dinner  time.  He  was  introduced  to  the  owner  of 
the  station,  who  greeted  him  cordially  enough,  and  invited 
the  two  of  them  to  remain  at  dinner,  which  would  be 
ready  shortly.  He  strolled  about  the  buildings  for  a 
little  while,  and  when  dinner  was  announced,  he  went  in 
and  joined  the  others  at  table. 

"The  table  was  well  supplied,  and  he  had  no  occasion 
to  complain  of  the  quality  or  quantity  of  the  food  set  be- 
fore him  ;  but  he  was  somewhat  surprised  to  find  that 
no  one  spoke  to  him,  except  in  the  briefest  manner,  and 
that  every  one  seemed  desirous  of  being  rid  of  him  as 
soon  as  possible.  In  fact,  there  was  very  little  conversa- 
tion at  the  table,  anyway,  and  as  soon  as  they  were 
through  dinner  he  suggested  to  his  friend  that  they  had 
better  be  moving.  Their  team  was  brought  out,  and  they 
continued  their  journey,  their  temporary  hosts  not  even 
taking  the  trouble  to  say  good-day  to  him. 

"  When  they  were  out  of  earshot  of  the  place,  the  Mel- 
bourne gentleman  remarked  to  his  companion,  who,  by 
the  way,  was  a  good  deal  of  a  practical  joker :  — 

"  « I  don't  think  much  of  your  friends  from  a  civility 
point  of  view.  They  were  as  rude  to  me  as  a  party  of 
savages  could  be.' 

"  '  I  don't  wonder  at  it,'  was  the  reply.  'Just  for  the 
fun  of  the  thing,  I  told  them  you  were  president  of  the 
Sheep  Shearers'  Union.' 

"  '  If  you  told  them  that  outrageous  lie,'  said  the  other, 
'  I  am  not  at  all  surprised  that  they  treated  me  as  they 
did,  but  please  don't  do  it  again.' 


HUNTING    THE    EMU    AND    OTHER    BIRDS.  261 

"  I  don't  believe  that  the  president  of  the  Shearers' 
Union  would  receive  a  hearty  welcome  at  any  sheep  run 
in  Australia.  Sheep  farmers  have  good  reason  for  a 
serious  grudge  against  the  whole  concern  :  but,  after  all, 
it  is  no  worse  than  most  of  the  other  trade  unions.  Nearly 
all  of  them  are  oppressive  to  a  high  degree,  and  are  a 
great  injury  to  business  and  commercial  prosperity." 

Ned  and  Harry  were  especially  interested  in  the  place 
where  the  shearing  was  done.  The  building  was  a  large 
structure  of  quadrangular  shape,  with  a  bulkhead  running 
across  the  middle  of  it  and  dividing  it  into  two  portions. 
There  is  a  platform  for  the  shearers  around  one  of  the  en- 
closures formed,  and  by  the  bulkhead  at  shearing  time ; 
this  is  always  kept  full  of  sheep ;  in  fact,  it  is  crowded  full, 
so  that  the  shearer  can  lay  hands  on  a  sheep  at  any  time 
without  the  necessity  of  running  after  it.  The  shearers 
stand  at  their  work.  They  have  tried  various  devices  for 
sitting  down  or  for  placing  sheep  on  a  bench  or  table  so  as 
to  avoid  bending  their  backs,  but  none  of  the  experiments 
have  succeeded,  and  the  old  process  remains  in  use.  It  is 
decidedly  fatiguing  for  a  beginner,  but  in  course  of  time 
one  gets  used  to  it,  as  to  everything  else. 

"  What  is  that  little  door  for,  and  the  little  yard  outside 
of  it?  "  queried  Ned,  as  he  pointed  to  one  of  a  series  of  low, 
small  doors  at  the  outside  of  the  shearers'  platform,  oppo- 
site the  enclosure. 

"  Oh,  that  is  for  the  shearer  to  let  out  his  sheep  after  he 
has  removed  the  fleece.  He  takes  the  animal  to  be  sheared 
out  of  the  enclosure,  as  I  told  you,  and  then  when  he  has 
sheared  it,  he   lets  it  out  through  this  door  into  the  little 


262  THE  LAND  OF  THE  KANGAROO. 

yard  ;  that  is  to  enable  us  to  count  the  men's  work  in  a 
way  to  avoid  all  disputes.  In  the  early  days  of  Australian 
sheep  farming,  the  men  who  gathered  up  the  fleece  kept 
the  accounts  of  the  shearers,  but  there  were  constant  dis- 
putes on  the  subject,  which  led  to  the  adoption  of  the 
present  system.  You  see  there  isn't  any  chance  for  mis- 
understanding now." 

"  Certainly,  you  have  it  now  beyond  question,"  remarked 
Harry  ;  "  and  I  am  sure  that  every  shearer  is  very  careful 
about  letting  his  sheep  out  through  his  own  door." 

"  That  he  is,"  was  the  reply  ;  "  and  we  never  have  any 
complaints  about  unfair  counting.  At  the  end  of  the  day's 
work  everybody  can  count  up  for  himself." 

"  I  suppose,"  said  Ned,  "  that  the  shearers  occasionally 
cut  the  sheep  while  shearing  them." 

"Occasionally!"  was  the  reply  ;  "you  had  better  say 
frequently,  or  very  often ;  and  some  of  them  are  much 
worse  than  others.  We  have  proposed  to  the  Shearers' 
Union  to  establish  a  system  of  fines  for  '  tomahawking  ' 
sheep,  but  the  union  refuses  to  do  anything  about  it.  We 
always  have  a  boy  here,  and  sometimes  two  boys,  while  the 
shearing  is  going  on.  The  boy  is  provided  with  a  tar 
bucket  and  brush.  Whenever  a  shearer  cuts  the  skin  of  a 
sheep  he  calls  out  "Tar!  "  not  stopping  a  moment  in  his 
work.  At  the  sound  of  that  word,  the  boy  runs  forward 
with  his  bucket  and  brush  and  covers  the  wounded  spot 
with  tar,  which  keeps  the  flies  away  from  it.  Tar  is  the 
best  thing  we  can  find  for  this  purpose,  and  is  in  use  on  all 
the  sheep  runs  in  the  country. 

"Many   of  the  shearers,"  continued  their  host,  "pride 


ilL'NTIXd    THE    EMU    AND    OTHER    UIRDS.  263 

themselves  on  the  skill  with  which  they  perform  their  work. 
The  shearer  places  the  sheep  between  his  knees  with  its 
head  upwards  ;  he  begins  at  the  throat  and  shears  down- 
ward, so  that,  when  his  work  is  completed,  the  fleece  drops 
off  in  a  single  piece.  As  fast  as  the  sheep  are  sheared, 
the  fleeces  are  gathered  by  the  man  whose  duty  it  is  to 
collect  them.  They  are  then  taken  to  the  baling  house, 
and,  when  a  sufficient  quantity  has  been  obtained,  the 
fleeces  are  made  into  bales,  in  much  the  same  way  that 
cotton  is  baled  on  an  American  plantation." 

Mr.  Johnson  then  led  the  way  to  the  baling  house,  or 
rather  the  baling  room,  as  it  was  in  the  same  building 
where  the  shearing  is  carried  on.  The  baling  apparatus 
proved  to  be  a  simple  affair,  nothing  more  than  a  press, 
very  much  like  a  cotton  or  hay  press,  and  handled  in  the 
same  way.  The  bales  of  wool  usually  weigh  about  four 
hundred  pounds,  and  are  manipulated  with  hooks,  just  as 
cotton  bales  are  handled. 

Xed  asked  if  it  was  necessary  to  have  the  wool  perfectly 
dry  when  packing  it. 

"  Yes,  indeed,"  was  the  reply  ;  "  and  for  that  reason  all 
work  in  the  wool  shed  must  stop  during  wet  weather.  The 
fleeces,  when  taken  from  the  sheep,  must  be  absolutely  dry, 
and  if  the  sheep  are  caught  out  in  a  rain,  it  takes  two  or 
three  days  to  dry  them  thoroughly.  It  is  a  serious  loss  of 
time  when  we  have  occasional  rainy  days,  as  we  lose  not 
only  the  rainy  day  itself,  but  not  less  than  one  or  two  clear 
days  afterwards  in  order  to  have  the  fleeces  in  proper  con- 
dition for  baling." 

Other    observations   were   made   around   the   wool   shed, 


264  THE  LAND  OF  THE  KANGAROO. 

and  about  the  time  that  they  were  concluded  a  flock  of 
sheep  came  in  from  its  day's  pasturage.  There  were 
about  five  hundred  sheep  in  the  flock,  accompanied  by 
the  shepherd  and  his  dog.  They  were  not  driven  to  the 
wool  shed,  but  to  a  yard  a  little  distance  away  from  it. 
The  sheep  were  in  good  condition  and  evidently  well 
cared  for. 

Harry  remarked  as  much  to  the  owner,  who  answered 
that  the  man  in  charge  of  them  was  a  very  faithful  shep- 
herd, and  he  added  that  he  might  well  be  so,  as  he  was 
constantly  under  the  eye  of  his  employer. 

After  looking  at  the  flock  and  visiting  several  other 
buildings  of  the  establishment,  the  party  returned  to  the 
house,  and  in  due  course  of  time  sat  down  to  dinner.  The 
entertainment  was  very  much  like  that  of  the  cattle  station. 
The  cooking  was  good,  the  host  was  attentive,  the  meal 
was  enlivened  by  stories  of  sheep-farming  life,  and  al- 
together the  occasion  was  a  pleasant  one. 

The  next  morning  Mr.  Johnson  accompanied  his  guests 
in  a  horseback  ride  over  a  portion  of  his  grounds.  As  the 
sheep  run  covered  an  area  of  about  one  hundred  square 
miles,  it  was  too  much  to  expect  that  they  would  examine 
the  whole  of  it.  They  visited  two  or  three  of  the  out- 
stations,  and  saw  the  shepherds  caring  for  their  flocks. 
Each  of  the  out-stations  that  they  visited  consisted  of  a 
hut  for  two  men,  and  two  yards  where  the  sheep  were  kept 
at  night.  As  already  mentioned  in  our  account  of  the  visit 
of  the  party  to  a  sheep  farm  in  South  Africa,  each  shep- 
herd started  out  in  the  morning  with  his  flock,  moving  it 
slowly  along  so  as  to  reach  water  about  noon,  and   then 


HUNTING    THE    EMU    AND    OTHER    BIRDS.  265 

slowly  feeding  it  back   again,  reaching  the   station  about 
nightfall. 

Nearly  every  shepherd  has  a  sheep  dog,  partly  for  the 
sake  of  companionship  and  partly  for  assistance.  A  good 
sheep  dog  is  a  very  useful  and  valuable  animal.  He  aids 
the  shepherd  in  keeping  the  flock  together  whenever  any  of 
them  show  a  disposition  to  straggle,  and  the  sheep  speedily 
learn  to  know  him  and  regard  him  as  their  friend.  He 
never  injures  them,  though  he  frequently  makes  a  great 
pretense  of  doing  so.  Sometimes  he  takes  a  refractory 
sheep  by  the  ear,  or  seizes  it  by  the  wool  on  his  neck,  but 
the  case  is  exceedingly  rare  where  he  perpetrates  an  actual 
bite. 

The  favorite  dog  for  the  shepherd  is  the  collie,  but  other 
kinds  are  employed,  and  many  an  ordinary  cur  has  been 
trained  by  an  intelligent  master  so  that  he  made  an  excel- 
lent sheep  dog,  though  he  can  never  attain  the  excellence 
of  the  genuine  collie.  The  real  shepherd  dog  will  accom- 
plish more  than  would  be  possible  for  a  man  under  the 
same  circumstances.  He  will  drive  a  flock  from  place  to 
place,  gather  them  together  to  be  counted,  and  take  them 
from  one  field  to  another  much  quicker  than  a  man  could 
do  it.  A  story  is  told  of  an  instance  that  happened  in 
Scotland,  to  James  Hogg,  known  in  literature  as  "The 
Ettrick  Shepherd."  Seven  hundred  sheep  broke  loose 
one  night  from  his  charge,  and  scampered  off  in  three 
divisions  across  the  plain.  It  was  too  dark  to  see  any- 
thing for  any  appreciable  distance,  and  the  shepherd  sup- 
posed he  would  have  to  wait  until  morning,  and  then  take 
his  chances  of  collecting  his  animals.      Shortly  afterwards 


266  THE  LAND  OF  THE  KANGAROO. 

he  missed  his  dog.  In  the  morning  he  went  out  to  look 
for  the  sheep,  but  saw  no  sign  of  them  until  he  reached 
the  edge  of  a  ravine  and  looked  over  the  side.  There  he 
saw  the  dog  guarding  the  entire  flock,  not  one  of  the  seven 
hundred  being  missing.  How  he  ever  managed  to  collect 
them  in  the  dark,  his  owner  could  not  imagine.  A  dozen, 
or  even  a  hundred  men,  would  have  failed  where  he 
succeeded. 

Near  the  end  of  the  last  century  there  was  a  sheep 
stealer  in  Scotland,  who  was  finally  discovered  and 
hanged  for  his  crimes,  who  used  to  cany  on  his  trade  by 
the  aid  of  his  dog.  He  traveled  about  the  countrv  under 
pretense  of  buying  sheep,  though  he  rarely  bought  any. 
While  looking  at  a  flock,  he  would  pick  one  of  the  fattest 
and  give  a  secret  signal  to  his  dog,  indicating  the  animal. 
That  night  the  dog  would  come  to  the  flock  where  the 
sheep  belonged,  often  traveling  several  miles  to  do  it; 
then  would  pick  out  the  identical  animal  and  drive  it 
to  his  master.  If  he  happened,  at  any  time,  to  meet  his 
master  on  the  road  while  going  on  one  of  his  stealing  expe- 
ditions, the  dog  would  give  no  sign  of  recognition,  and  treat 
his  master  as  a  perfect  stranger.  When  the  man's  guilt 
was  discovered,  and  he  was  tried  and  condemned  for  his 
crime,  the  dog  was  also  condemned  to  be  hanged ;  but  it 
was  afterwards  concluded  that  the  dog  was  simply  an  in- 
strument, in  the  hands  of  his  owner,  and  not  responsible 
for  his  actions.  He  was  given  to  a  shepherd,  who  kept  the 
animal  as  long  as  he  lived ;  and,  according  to  the  shep- 
herd's account,  the  dog  was  never  afterwards  guilty  of  any 
crime. 


HUNTING    THE    EMU    AND    OTHER    BIRDS.  267 

During  their  ride  among  the  out-stations  of  the  sheep 
run,  our  young  friends  learned  several  things  eonnected 
with  the  industry  of  raising  wool  for  the  market. 

One  faet  which  they  learned  was,  that  for  a  portion  of 
the  year,  a  great  many  sheep  farmers  are  in  debt  to  the 
bankers  at  the  ports  where  they  send  their  wool.  They 
have  a  considerable  amount  of  money  to  pay  out  during 
the  course  of  the  year  before  shearing  time,  and  conse- 
quent!}' they  require  advances  from  their  bankers.  It  is 
not  at  all  difficult  to  obtain  money  in  advance  on  a  crop  of 
wool,  and  in  this  respect  a  sheep  run  has  an  advantage 
over  a  cattle  run.  Even  when  the  sheep  farmer  is  grow- 
ing rich,  and  has  money  laid  by,  he  often  prefers  to  obtain 
advances  on  his  wool  crop  rather  than  use  his  own  money 
for  carrying  on  business.  When  the  crop  comes  in,  all 
the  indebtedness  is  paid  off,  and  there  is  usually  a  good 
balance  left.  This  may  be  set  aside  and  invested,  or  it 
may  remain  at  the  banker's,  to  be  drawn  whenever  wanted. 

Sheep  farmers  keep  very  little  money  at  their  stations 
in  the  country  districts  for  fear  of  attracting  bushrangers, 
or  other  individuals,  whose  ideas  of  the  rights  of  property 
do  not  harmonize  with  those  of  society  in  general.  In 
mam'  cases  laborers  are  paid  off  by  check,  and  not  in 
cash,  and  it  is  no  uncommon  sight  to  see  a  laboring  man, 
in  an  Australian  town  or  village,  flourishing  a  check  pre- 
vious to  turning  it  into  money,  which  he  proceeds  to  spend 
with  a  liberal  hand. 

Another  point  that  they  learned  was,  that  then'  are  cer- 
tain portions  of  Australia  between  the  mountains  and  the 
coast,  particularly  in  Queensland,  that  are  not  adapted  to 


268  THE  LAND  OF  THE  KANGAROO. 

sheep,  though  they  make  excellent  pasturage  for  cattle. 
In  these  localities  there  is  a  grass  that  has  a  barb  on  its 
edges,  and  when  once  it  becomes  attached  to  the  wool  of 
the  sheep,  it  steadily  works  its  way  inward  until  it  pierces 
the  skin  of  the  animal,  and  eventually  causes  its  death. 
Cattle  are  not  affected  by  this  grass,  as  it  does  not  pene- 
trate their  skins.  They  walk  in  it  and  feed  upon  it  with 
impunity,  and  in  any  of  the  regions  where  this  grass  is 
found  there  is  no  attempt  at  rearing  sheep,  but  the  land  is 
devoted  to  cattle  raising. 


CHAPTER   XVII. 

FROM   MELBOURNE  TO  SYDNEY  CROSSING  THE  BLUE 

MOUNTAINS. 

WHEN  their  visit  to  the  sheep  run  was  concluded,  our 
friends  returned  to  Melbourne,  where  they  spent 
two  or  three  days,  and  then  proceeded  to  Sydney.  Two 
ways  were  open  to  them,  one  by  sea,  and  the  other  bv 
land ;  they  chose  the  latter,  as  it  would  give  them  an 
opportunity  to  see  more  of  the  country  than  if  they  went 
by  water,  The  water  journey  is  mostly  made  by  night, 
and  consequently  they  would  be  deprived  of  a  sight 
of  the  picturesque  coast  which  lies  between  the  two 
cities. 

The  railway  out  of  Melbourne  runs  through  a  pic- 
turesque country,  as  it  ascends  the  slope  of  the  dividing 
range  of  mountains  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  city. 
There  are  many  country  residences  of  gentlemen  con- 
cerned in  business  in  Melbourne,  and  the  country  has  a 
prosperous  appearance.  Further  away  on  the  slope  of 
the  range,  our  friends  passed  through  large  wheat  fields, 
sheep  and  cattle  runs,  occasional  patches  of  forest,  and 
not  infrequently  crossed  small  rivers  flowing  on  their 
way  to  the  sea.  They  also  crossed  a  goodly  number  of 
dry  beds  of  rivers,  which  had  every  appearance  of  being 
full   and  running  over  in  the  season  of  heavy  rains.      The 

side  of  the  range  next  the  coast  receives  more  rain  than 

269 


270  THE  LAND  OF  THE  KANGAROO. 

the  other  side  of  it,  and  the  reasons  therefor  have  been 
given  in  a  previous  chapter. 

After  the  train  had  passed  the  crest  of  the  range,  it  rolled 
along  through  a  broken  and  undulating  country,  largely 
devoted  to  sheep  and  cattle  raising,  and  having  many 
stretches  of  blue  gum  forest.  In  some  places  great  num- 
bers of  rabbits  were  visible,  but  this  was  a  sicdit  to  which 
the  eyes  of  our  young  friends  had  become  accustomed. 
As  they  approached  the  frontier  of  the  colony  of  Victoria, 
Dr.  Whitney  remarked  that  they  would  spend  the  rest 
of  the  day  and  the  night  at  Albury,  so  as  to  have  another 
view  of  the  Murray  River,  and  study  the  peculiarities  of 
the  colonial  frontier. 

"  I  believe,"  said  Harry,  "  that  we  have  our  baggage 
examined  at  the  frontier,  just  as  it  is  examined  at  the  fron- 
tiers of  the  empires  and  kingdoms  of  Europe.'' 

"  Yes,"  replied  the  doctor,  "  that  is  the  case :  and  I  sup- 
pose the  examination  will  be  a  light  one  for  us,  as  we  are 
going  out  of  a  protection  colony  into  a  free  trade  one.  If 
we  were  going  the  other  way,  the  custom  house  officials 
would  be  more  particular." 

"  How  is  that?  "  Ned  asked. 

"  Why,  don't  you  see?  "  the  doctor  answered,  "  a  pro- 
tection country  is  on  the  lookout  for  goods  that  may  inter- 
fere with  its  manufacturing  interests  ;  the  free  trade  one  has 
no  such  care  for  its  manufacturing  industries,  but  levies 
its  duties  on  articles  of  luxury  principally.  When  you 
come  into  the  United  States,  your  baggage  is  examined 
much  more  carefully  than  when  you  go  into  England. 
England  is  a  free  trade  country,  while  our  own  is  a  pro- 


FROM    MELBOURNE    TO    SYDNEY.  27 1 

tection  one  ;  at  least  it  has  been  for  the  greater  part  of  the 
time  since  it  began  its  existence." 

"  It  is  rather  a  strange  circumstance,"  remarked  Ned, 
"  that  two  colonies  of  the  same  country,  lying  side  by  side, 
and  one  of  them  an  offshoot  of  the  other,  should  be  so 
radically  different  in  their  tariff  laws.  How  do  you  ac- 
count for  it,  sir  ?  " 

"  We  are  treading  on  dangerous  ground,"  replied  the 
doctor,  "  as  it  is  not  prudent  for  a  traveler  in  foreign  lands 
to  talk  politics ;  but  as  we  are  quite  by  ourselves,  we  may 
be  permitted  to  discuss  the  subject  a  little.  Victoria,  as 
you  are  aware,  is  an  offshoot  from  the  colony  of  New 
South  Wales,  from  which  it  was  separated  in  August, 
185 1.  I  don't  know  anything  about  the  matter,  but  pre- 
sume that  the  origin  of  the  differences  in  tariffs  between 
the  two  colonies  grew  out  of  the  opposition  of  the  new  to 
the  old.  There  has  always  been  a  great  deal  of  jealousy 
between  them,  and  as  New  South  Wales  had  a  free  trade 
policy,  it  was  the  most  natural  thing  in  the  world  that  the 
jealous  young  colony  of  Victoria  should  adopt  a  protection 
one.  In  each  of  the  colonies  there  is  a  strong  party  op- 
posed to  its  tariff  policy ;  in  Victoria  there  is  a  goodly 
number  of  free-traders,  while  in  New  South  Wales  there 
is  an  equally  good  number  of  protectionists.  Whatever  a 
man's  views  are,  in  regard  to  free  trade  or  protection,  it  is 
generally  useless  to  attempt  to  change  them  by  argument ; 
and  if  he  is  a  skilled  debater,  he  can  give  you  facts  and 
figures  to  demonstrate,  with  great  clearness,  the  correct- 
ness of  his  views.  On  that  point  I  can  tell  you  what  was 
to  me  an  amusing  story." 


272  THE  LAND  OF  THE  KANGAROO. 

"  What  was  that?" 

"Several  years  ago,  when  the  financial  authorities  of 
the  two  colonies  had  made  their  annual  reports,  the  two 
documents  were  taken  by  a  free  trade  writer  for  an  Eng- 
lish magazine,  and  out  of  them,  by  the  use  of  the  figures 
and  facts  that  they  contained,  there  was  constructed  an  ad- 
mirable article,  demonstrating,  with  great  clearness,  the 
advantages  of  free  trade  in  New  South  Wales.  Almost 
simultaneously  in  an  American  newspaper  appeared  a 
similar  article,  drawn  from  the  same  facts  and  figures, 
which  demonstrated  with  equal  clearness  and  with  equal 
conclusiveness  the  advantages  of  protection  in  Victoria. 
There  was  not  a  weak  point  in  either  of  the  articles,  and 
the  curious  thing  was  that  they  were  drawn  from  the  same 
sources.  Each  writer  showed  that  the  colony  whose 
tariff  policy  he  had  favored  was  far  more  prosperous  than 
the  other,  and  was  making  progress  steadily,  while  the 
other  was  running  behind." 

"  It's  pretty  much  the  same  in  our  own  country,  is  it 
not?  "  queried  Harry.  ."  It  seems  to  me  that  I  have  read 
articles  in  the  New  York  Tribune  and  the  New  York 
Evening  Post  that  were  flatly  contradictory  of  each  other 
on  the  subject  of  the  tariff." 

"  Yes  ;  that  is  quite  likely  the  case,  as  both  of  the  papers 
you  name  are  ready  to  debate  the  subject,  and  it  is  evident 
that  the  writers  upon  both  sides  of  the  question  believe 
what  they  say.  I  don't  think  it  worth  our  while  to  enter 
into  the  abstract  question  here,  and  so  we'll  drop  it  for 
something  else.  You  are  aware,  I  presume,  that  we 
have  to    make  a    change    of  train    at  the  frontier  on  ac- 


FROM    MELBOURNE    TO    SYDNEY.  273 

count  of  the  different  gauges  of  the  railways  of  the  two 
colonies." 

"Yes,  sir,  I  was  aware  of  that,"  said  Harry ;  "one 
track  is  six  inches  wider  than  the  other." 

"  Yes  ;  that  is  another  indication  of  the  hostility  between 
the  two  colonies.  When  the  railway  between  Sydney  and 
Melbourne  was  projected,  it  was  impossible  for  the  op- 
posing interests  to  agree  upon  a  uniform  track  for  the 
whole  distance,  and  consequently  each  colony  did  as  it 
chose.  The  result  was,  that  the  Victorian  line  was  of  one 
gauge,  and  that  of  New  South  Wales  of  another.  Neither 
passenger  nor  freight  cars  can  run  through  from  one  city 
to  the  other,  but  all  passengers  and  freight  must  be 
transferred  at  the  frontier." 

"  Let  me  call  your  attention  to  another  thing  while  we 
are  on  the  subject  of  colonial  disagreements,"  the  doctor 
remarked.  "  Each  of  the  colonies  has  its  own  postal 
system  and  each  its  own  postage  stamp.  In  New  South 
Waks.  a  Victorian  stamp  would  be  of  no  use,  any  more 
than  would  a  British  postage  stamp  in  the  United  States 
Post-office.  You  can  prepay  letters  from  one  colony  to 
the  other  in  the  stamps  of  the  colony  where  you  happen 
to  be,  but  if  you  post  a  letter  in  Sydney  with  a  Victorian 
stamp  upon  it,  I  am  afraid  it  would  go  to  the  dead  letter 
office,  just  as  if  it  had  borne  no  stamp  at  all." 

••What  a  pity  it  is,"  said  Harry,  "that  the  colonies 
cannot  reconcile  their  differences  and  come  together." 

•■  You  are  not  the  first  one,  by  any  means,  who  has 
thought  so,"  was  the  reply.  "  Statesmen  haye  been  for  a 
considerable  time  discussing  the  question  of  a  federation 


274  THE  LAND  OF  THE  KANGAROO. 

of  all  the  colonies  in  the  same  way  that  the  British 
American  colonies  are  federated.  Federation  would  have 
been  accomplished  long  ago,  at  least  it  is  so  claimed  by 
the  others,  had  it  not  been  for  New  South  Wales,  which 
stands  aloof  from  the  rest  principally  on  account  of  the 
tariff  question.  All  the  other  colonies  are  in  favor  of  the 
protection  of  home  industries,  while  New  South  Wales,  as 
before  stated,  favors  a  free  trade  policy.  I  saw,  while  in 
Melbourne,  a  cartoon  representing  several  young  women 
standing  in  a  circle.  All  were  dressed  in  white  and 
wreathed  with  roses,  and  the  various  members  of  the 
circle  were  marked  with  the  names  of  Victoria,  Tasmania, 
Queensland,  South  Australia,  New  Zealand,  and  West 
Australia.  A  little  in  the  background,  and  leaning 
against  the  wall  with  one  finger  in  her  mouth  as  though 
she  were  angry,  was  a  young  woman  dressed  in  black, 
and  labeled  '  New  South  Wales.'  The  others  were  evi- 
dently trying,  but  without  success,  to  induce  her  to  join 
the  circle. 

"  I  presume,"  he  continued,  "  that  federation  will  come 
in  time,  and  an  Australian  gentleman  told  me  the  other 
day  that  he  believed  it  would  be  a  step  towards  independ- 
ence. He  thought,  as  do  many  other  Australians,  that  the 
long  distance  from  the  mother  country  and  their  diversity 
of  interests  would  tend,  as  the  years  go  on,  to  weaken  the 
bonds  between  Great  Britain  and  her  Australian  colonies, 
and  that  separation  would  be  sure  to  come.  The  colonies 
realize  their  great  danger  in  case  Great  Britain  should 
become  involved  in  a  foreign  war,  and  especially  with  a 
power  possessing  a  powerful  navy.     The  colonies  have  a 


FROM    MELBOURNE    TO    SYDNEY.  275 

military  force  on  the  volunteer  system,  which  could  no 
doubt  do  efficient  service  in  time  of  war.  The  British 
government  maintains  a  certain  number  of  warships  in 
Australian  waters,  but  neither  they  nor  the  volunteer 
troops  provided  by  the  colonies  would  be  of  much  avail 
against  a  powerful  force  sent  here  by  a  first-class  power." 

There  was  further  conversation  upon  various  topics  of 
which  we  have  no  record,  and  in  due  course  of  time 
the  train  reached  Wodonga,  the  frontier  terminus  of  the 
line.  It  halted  a  few  minutes  in  the  station,  and  then 
moved  on  to  Albury,  in  New  South  Wales,  crossing  the 
Murray  River  on  an  iron  bridge;  Harry  remarking,  as 
they  did  so,  that  it  was  the  same  Murray,  though  not  the 
same  bridge,  that  they  crossed  between  Adelaide  and 
Melbourne. 

Harry  learned,  on  inquiry,  that  the  railway  line  from 
Melbourne  reached  Wodonga  in  1873,  but  the  line  from 
Sydney  did  not  arrive  at  the  northern  bank  of  the  Murray 
until  eight  years  later.  There  were  disagreements  be- 
tween the  management  of  the  two  concerns,  so  that  for 
three  years  the  ends  of  the  two  railway  lines  were  not 
brought  together.  Passengers  were  transferred  by  coaches 
or  omnibuses,  and  baggage  and  freight  by  wagons,  be- 
tween Wodonga  and  Albury,  a  distance  of  two  miles. 
At  last,  however,  the  quarrels  came  to  an  end.  A  bridge 
was  built,  the  lines  of  railway  were  completed,  and  since 
then  everything  has  been  harmonious.  Passengers  from 
New  South  Wales  cross  the  river  in  the  train  by  which 
they  have  arrived,  and  alight  in  the  station  at  Wodonga. 
Passengers  from  Victoria  cross  the  river,  and  make  their 


276  THE  LAND  OF  THE  KANGAROO. 

change  of  cars  on  the  territory  of  New  South  Wales  in 
the  Albury  station. 

After  the  custom-house  examination  was  concluded, 
and  it  was  by  no  means  severe,  our  friends  found  a  fairly 
good  hotel  where  they  put  up  for  the  night.  Then  they 
took  a  carriage  and  drove  around  the  town,  which  was  evi- 
dently a  prosperous  one,  and  had  the  usual  paraphernalia 
of  public  institutions,  such  as  churches,  hospitals,  jail,  town 
hall,  etc.  It  is  said  to  be  the  home  and  the  place  of  busi- 
ness of  a  considerable  number  of  smugglers,  whose  occu- 
pation is  invited  by  the  long  frontier  line  which  separates 
Victoria  from  New  South  Wales.  A  resident  of  Albury, 
with  whom  our  friends  fell  into  conversation,  admitted 
that  a  good  deal  of  smuggling  was  carried  on  there,  and 
added  that  it  would  take  the  whole  male  population  of 
Victoria  to  guard  the  frontier  efficiently.  Of  course, 
smuggling,  like  the  same  business  everywhere  else,  re- 
lates chiefly  to  goods  where  high  values  can  be  included 
in  small  parcels.  No  one  would  think  it  worth  his  while 
to  smuggle  bulky  articles  of  small  value,  since  it  would 
not  pay  to  carry  them  long  distances  on  men's  backs,  as 
most  of  the  smuggled  articles  are  carried. 

Albury  stands  on  the  bank  of  the  Murray  River,  five 
hundred  and  thirty-one  feet  above  the  sea ;  it  is  about 
three  hundred  miles  from  the  source  of  that  stream,  and 
six  hundred  above  its  mouth.  During  the  rainy  season, 
when  the  Murray  is  at  its  height,  steamers  run  up  to  Al- 
bury, but  ordinarily  the  river  is  not  navigable  to  that 
place.  As  our  friends  drove  along  the  edge  of  the  stream, 
below  the  two  bridges  which   span   it,   they  saw  a  small 


FROM    MELBOURNE    TO    SYDNEY.  277 

steamboat  tied  up  at  the  bank,  and  having  an  appearance 
of  idleness  about  it.  They  stopped  the  carriage  for  a  few 
moments  to  inspect  the  boat,  and  found  that  it  had  been 
left  there  by  a  sudden  fall  of  the  river,  and  was  waiting 
for  the  next  flood  to  come. 

"It  is  a  very  light  draft  steamboat,"  said  Harry  in  his 
notebook  ;  "  and  makes  me  think  of  those  they  talk  about 
in  the  western  part  of  the  United  States,  that  can  run  on  a 
heavy  dew,  or  where  a  man  goes  ahead  of  them  with  a 
sprinkling  pot.  It  is  a  side-wheel  boat,  the  wheels  being 
very  large,  but  not  dipping  far  into  the  water.  The  en- 
gine seems  rather  small  for  such  a  large  pair  of  wheels, 
but  I  suppose  the  boat  was  not  built  for  speed  so  much  as 
for  general  utility.  She  has  a  saloon  over  the  engines, 
with  cabins  opening  out  of  it,  and  there  are  quarters  on 
the  main  deck  for  the  officers  and  crew.  The  rooms  in 
the  upper  cabin  are  intended  for  passengers,  and  as  there 
are  only  ten  of  them  on  each  side,  you  can  readily  under- 
stand that  the  accommodations  are  limited.  They  told  me 
that  the  steamer  was  built  at  one  of  the  towns  lower  down 
the  river,  her  engines  having  been  made  in  Adelaide,  and 
brought  overland  to  the  place  where  the  hull  was  con- 
structed. They  also  told  me  that  the  first  steamer  which 
ever  ascended  the  Murray  was  named  the  Albury,  and 
arrived  in  the  year  1855.  I  infer,  from  the  name  of  the 
boat,  that  it  was  owned  by  people  living  here,  but  on  that 
point  my  informant  was  unable  to  say  anything  definite." 

When  the  party  returned  to  the  hotel  for  dinner,  they 
were  regaled  with  a  fish  which  was  new  to  them.  At  Mel- 
bourne they  had   fish  from  the  sea  almost  daily,  but  when 


278  THE  LAND  OF  THE  KANGAROO. 

visiting  the  cattle  and  sheep  stations  they  had  none  at  all, 
for  the  reason  that  no  fish  were  to  be  obtained  in  those  local- 
ities, and  it  would  be  an  expensive  matter  to  bring  them 
there  from  the  sea  with  the  strong  probability  of  their  being 
unfit  for  eating  at  the  time  of  their  arrival.  As  they  were 
not  looking  for  fish  in  any  inland  town,  they  naturally 
inquired  what  it  was  before  them. 

"That  is  the  Murray  cod,  sir,  or  cod-perch,  as  we  call 
it,"  said  the  waiter,  in  reply  to  Ned's  question.  "It  is  a 
fish  caught  in  the  Murray  River,  and  I  think  you'll  like 
it,  gentlemen." 

They  did  like  it,  all  three  of  our  friends  pronouncing  it 
quite  toothsome.  It  is  a  fish  somewhat  resembling  the 
American  perch,  both  in  appearance  and  in  taste,  and 
probably  belongs  to  the  same  family.  Australia  is  poorly 
supplied  with  fresh  water  fishes.  Many  of  the  lakes  con- 
tain no  fish  whatever,  and  the  few  that  are  found  there  are 
poor  eating.  There  are  trout  in  the  mountainous  districts, 
but  they  are  not  numerous.  Attempts  have  been  made  to 
stock  the  rivers  with  European  salmon,  carp,  and  other 
food  fishes,  but  thus  far  the  experiments  have  not  been 
especially  successful.  Once  in  a  while  a  fisherman  catches 
a  small  salmon  in  one  of  the  streams,  and  paragraphs  con- 
cerning his  performance  are  circulated  far  and  wide  in 
the  newspapers.  The  habit  of  most  of  the  Australian 
rivers  of  running  dry  at  certain  portions  of  the  year  is  a 
serious  discouragement  to  the  industry  of  fish  culture. 

At  Albury  our  friends  found  themselves  in  one  of  the 
mountainous  districts  of  Australia.  Mount  Kosciusco,  the 
highest  peak  in  Australia,  was   not  far   away,  though  not 


FROM    MELBOURNE    TO    SYDNEY.  -79 

visible  from  the  town,  but  other  mountain  peaks  were  in 
sight  of  the  place.  Kosciusco  is  not  a  very  high  moun- 
tain, as  mountains  go,  as  its  summit  is  only  7,308  feet 
above  the  level  of  the  sea.  It  is  quite  picturesquely 
situated,  forming  one  of  a  group  of  several  mountains, 
and  the  journey  to  its  summit  is  by  no  means  an  easy 
matter. 

Athletic  young  men,  with  a  fondness  for  adventure,  oc- 
casionally make  up  parties  for  an  excursion  to  the  top  of 
the  mountain,  and  if  the  weather  is  good  they  come  back 
with  their  spirits  high,  their  shoes  or  boots  well  worn,  and 
their  clothing  more  or  less  damaged.  Traveling  facilities 
are  limited,  and  anybody  who  climbs  Mount  Kosciusco 
must  expect  to  "rough  it."  The  town  nearest  to  the 
mountain  is  Tumberumba,  and  the  excursion  is  made 
partly  on  horseback  and  partly  on  foot.  It  is  forty  miles 
from  Tumberumba  to  the  mountain,  and  in  order  to  reach 
that  town  it  is  necessary  to  travel  by  coach  a  distance 
of  seventy-four  miles,  from  Calcairn,  which  is  the  nearest 
station  on  the  railway. 

Travelers  who  have  visited  Switzerland  before  going  to 
Australia  say  that  the  region  around  Mount  Kosciusco  is 
quite  Alpine  in  character,  as  it  has  deep  gorges  and  ra- 
vines, and  the  streams  plunge  for  long  distances  over  pre- 
cipitous rocks.  The  Murray  River  takes  its  rise  among 
these  mountains,  and  a  great  contrast  is  offered  between 
the  country  around  its  head  waters  and  that  through  which 
it  flows  in  the  latter  part  of  its  course.  The  country  is  too 
rough  around  these  mountains  for  sheep  and  cattle  sta- 
tions.    There   is  a   considerable   amount   of    tillable  land 


280  THE  LAND  OF  THE  KANGAROO. 

among  them,  which  is  principally  devoted  to  the  growing 
of  oats  and  wheat. 

At  their  appointed  time,  our  friends  proceeded  by  train 
in  the  direction  of  Sydney.  They  found  the  railway 
running  for  much  of  the  way  through  a  mountainous  re- 
gion, some  of  it  very  mountainous  indeed.  The  railway 
engineering  on  many  parts  of  the  route  evoked  their  ad- 
miration, and  certainly  it  deserves  a  great  deal  of  praise. 
There  are  numerous  tunnels  on  the  way,  gorges  and 
ravines  are  traversed  by  bridges  high  up  in  the  air,  and 
nowhere  in  the  world  can  be  found  better  examples  of 
engineering  skill  in  mountain  work.  A  gentleman  who 
was  in  the  carriage  with  them  said  they  would  find 
equally  good  work  on  the  western  line  of  railway,  the 
one  on  which  they  were  traveling  being  the  southern. 

"The  range  of  mountains  that  winds  around  the  whole 
coast  of  Australia,"  said  the  gentleman,  "  has  made  our 
railways  cost  us  very  dearly.  To  go  any  distance  at  all 
into  the  interior,  we  had  to  traverse  the  mountains,  and 
for  a  long  time  it  was  believed  that  it  would  be  absolutely 
impossible  to  get  through  them.  The  first  railway  line  in 
New  South  Wales  was  surveyed  about  1847,  and  ground 
for  it  was  broken  in  July,  1850.  The  obstacles  which  the 
Blue  Mountains  presented  retarded  the  work  very  much, 
but  finally,  after  they  were  passed,  we  got  along  well 
enough.  You  will  see  for  yourself  how  difficult  they 
were." 

"  From  what  we  had  already  seen,"  wrote  Harry,  "  we 
fully  agreed  with  the  gentleman  in  his  statement,  and 
were  not  surprised  to  learn  that  the  engineers  were  con- 


FROM    MELBOURNE    TO    SYDNEY.  28l 

siderably  discouraged  when  they  began  their  work.  After 
a  pause,  he  described  to  us  some  of  the  interesting  points 
of  the  western  line,  as  it  is  called,  and  said  he  hoped 
we  would  be  able  to  make  a  journey  over  that  part  of  the 
railway  system  of  New  South  Wales.  He  assured  us 
that  we  would  never  regret  it,  and  that  we  would  see 
some  of  the  most  magnificent  sights  to  be  obtained  any- 
where in  railway  travel. 

"When  you  have  crossed  the  crest  of  the  Blue  Moun- 
tains," the  gentleman  continued,  "you  will  see  a  piece  of 
railway  engineering  which  has  never  been  undertaken, 
as  far  as  I  know  of,  anywhere  else  in  the  world." 

"  What  is  that?  "  one  of  the  party  asked. 

"It  is  the  accomplishment  of  a  feat  that  has  always 
been  disastrous  in  every  other  part  of  the  globe,  that  of 
two  trains  passing  each  other  on  a  single  track." 

"  It  certainly  results  in  disaster  as  far  as  I  have  ever 
known,"  Dr.  Whitney  answered.  "  I  have  never  heard 
of  two  trains  trying  to  pass  each  other  on  a  single  track 
without  both  of  them  coming  to  grief." 

"Well,  you  know  that  Australia  is  a  land  of  contradic- 
tions," was  the  reply;  "and  why  shouldn't  we  be  con- 
tradictory in  this  as  well  as  many  other  things?  The 
way  we  perform  this  trick  is  this  :  — 

"The  railway  climbs  the  mountain  by  means  of  zig- 
zags, running  first  one  way,  and  then  the  other,  and  all 
the  time  making  an  ascending  grade.  At  the  end  of  each 
zigzag  the  track  is  prolonged  sufficiently  to  hold  two  rail- 
way trains.  When  an  ascending  train  sees  a  descending 
one  coming,  the  engine  driver  runs  his  train   to  the  end  of 


282  THE  LAND  OF  THE  KANGAROO. 

this  prolonged  track  and  stops.  Then  the  descending  one 
comes  down,  runs  upon  the  track,  is  switched  off  down 
the  mountain,  and  the  way  is  then  clear  for  the  ascending 
train  to  proceed.  There  is  no  double  track  anywhere, 
and  yet  the  trains  have  passed  each  other,  and  safely 
too." 

"Very  simple  when  3'ou  know  what  it  is,"  said  Harry, 
and  the  others  echoed  his  remark. 

When  they  crossed  the  Blue  Mountains  they  found  the 
zigzags,  readily  recognizing  them  from  the  description. 
On  seeing  the  rugged  character  of  the  mountains,  they 
were  not  at  all  surprised  that  the  engineers  were  appalled 
at  the  difficulties  before  them.  Neither  did  they  wonder 
that  the  officers  in  command  of  the  first  convict  settlement 
at  Sydney  for  a  long  time  regarded  the  Blue  Mountains 
as  impassable,  and  believed  that  escaped  convicts  travel- 
ing in  that  direction  would  be  stopped  by  this  formidable 
barrier.  The  Blue  Mountains  were  not  crossed  and  the 
country  beyond  them  explored  until  18 13,  although  the 
settlement  at  Sydney  was  founded  in  1788. 

Mountain  regions  are  always  considered  healthy  places 
to  live  in,  and  this  is  especially  the  case  with  the  region  of 
the  Blue  Mountains.  A  fellow-passenger  in  the  train  told 
our  friends  that  it  was  a  favorite  saying  in  the  country  that 
nobody  ever  dies  in  the  Blue  Mountains ;  he  simply  dries 
up  and  disappears.  Another  passenger  said  that  once, 
when  a  town  was  founded  in  the  Blue  Mountain  district, 
the  people  wanted  to  start  a  graveyard,  and  took  along  an 
elderly  man  who  was  in  the  last  stages  of  consumption. 
They  had   agreed  to   pay  his  expenses   and    give  him  a 


FROM    MELBOURNE    TO    SYDNEY.  283 

grand  funeral,  on  the  condition  that  he  lived  until  he 
reached  the  site  of  the  town.  Not  only  did  he  live  until 
he  got  there,  but  he  continued  to  live  for  many  years,  and 
finally  dried  up  and  blew  away.  The  people  felt  that  they 
had  been  defrauded,  and  if  the  man  had  left  anything  in 
the  way  of  propertv,  they  would  have  brought  suit  for  the 
recoveiy  of  damages. 

Harry  recorded  the  above  anecdote  in  his  notebook, 
adding  to  it  the  words,  "Interesting,  but  of  doubtful 
authenticity." 


CHAPTER   XVIII. 

SIGHTS  OF  SYDNEY BOTANY  BAY  AND  PARAMATTA. 

AFTER  leaving  the  Blue  Mountains  behind  them,  our 
friends  were  whirled  onward  through  a  more  fertile 
country  than  the  one  they  had  traversed  on  the  western 
slope.  As  they  approached  Sydney,  they  found  the  coun- 
try dotted  with  pleasant  residences  and  diversified  with 
fields  and  forest  in  a  very  picturesque  way.  At  the  ap- 
pointed hour  the  train  rolled  into  the  station  at  Sydney, 
and  landed  the  strangers  in  that  ancient  city ;  ancient 
from  an  Australian  point  of  view,  as  it  is  the  oldest  settle- 
ment on  the  island  continent,  but  exceedingly  modern  when 
compared  with  London,  Paris,  and  other  European  capitals. 

As  our  friends  drove  in  the  direction  of  the  hotel  where 
they  intended  to  stay,  they  were  struck  by  the  narrowness 
of  the  streets,  which  seemed  to  them  very  narrow  indeed, 
after  the  wide  streets  of  Melbourne. 

Harry  wondered  how  the  difference  of  the  streets  of  the 
two  cities  could  be  accounted  for. 

"  Oh,  I  understand,"  said  Ned.  "  Sydney  was  laid 
out  by  an  English  surveyor,  and  Melbourne  by  an  Ameri- 
can. Being  a  native  of  the  little  island  called  England, 
the  Britisher  felt  that  he  must  make  the  most  of  the  land 
he  had,  while  the  American,  coming  from  his  own  wide- 
spreading  country,  took  all  the  room  that  he  wanted. 
That's  the  way  of  it,  I'm  sure." 

284 


SIGHTS    OF    SYDNEY.  285 

"  Well,  that  will  do  for  an  explanation,"  said  Harry, 
"  until  we  get  at  the  real  facts  in  the  case." 

"The  probabilities  are,"  the  doctor  remarked,  "that  as 
Sydney  was  originally  a  convict  settlement,  the  officers 
that  came  out  in  charge  of  the  expedition  felt  that  it 
should  be  made  as  compact  as  possible  for  the  greater 
facility  of  guarding  the  convicts.  In  this  way  the  nar- 
rowness of  the  streets  may  be  accounted  for." 

"They  didn't  foresee  the  tramways  in  the  streets,  and 
the  steam  cars  running  upon  them,"  said  Harry,  as  a 
noisy  little  steam  engine  drawing  two  passenger  cars 
passed  close  to  their  carriage. 

"No,  indeed,"  responded  Xed.  "  Street  cars  had  not 
been  invented  at  the  time  Sydney  was  founded,  and  the 
locomotive  was  unknown.  One  would  think  that  steam 
cars,  running  through  crowded  streets  like  this,  would 
cost  a  considerable  loss  of  life  every  year." 

"  I  have  heard  that  they  do  so,"  said  Dr.  Whitney. 
"You  observe  that  they  have  flagmen  at  some  of  the 
crossings,  and  that  the  trains  do  not  stop  wherever  pas- 
sengers want  to  get  on,  but  only  at  certain  designated 
points.  There  must  be  great  danger  to  pedestrians,  many 
of  whom,  in  all  cities,  are  careless,  and  I  wonder  the 
authorities  do  not  abolish  this  steam  traffic  in  the  streets, 
and  adopt  the  cable  or  the  trolly." 

"We'll  take  good  care  that  they  don't  run  over  us  while 
we  are  in  Sydney,"  remarked  Harry,  and  there  the  tram- 
way subject  was  dropped. 

Our  friends  followed  the  same  plan  here  as  in  the  other 
cities  they  had  visited,  of  going  out  for  a   drive  or  stroll 


286  THE  LAND  OF  THE  KANGAROO. 

immediately  after  arranging  for  their  accommodations  at 
the  hotel,  and  removing  the  dust  of  travel  from  their  cloth- 
ing. They  thought  there  was  less  bustle  and  activity  in 
the  streets  of  Sydney  than  in  those  of  Melbourne,  and 
accounted  for  the  difference  that  Sydney  was  the  older 
and  more  dignified  place  of  the  two,  had  a  smaller  popu- 
lation, and  was  not  so  much  given  over  to  speculations  in 
gold  mines  and  other  matters.  They  found  it  well  equipped 
with  public  buildings,  most  of  them  fully  equal  to  the  cor- 
responding edifices  in  the  rival  city.  The  city  hall  espe- 
cially roused  their  admiration,  and  they  passed  several 
churches  which  would  do  honor  to  any  city  of  Europe. 
The  doctor  remarked  that  the  people  of  Sydney  had  con- 
structed their  public  buildings  with  a  liberal  hand,  and 
Harry  answered  that  the  liberal  hand  had  been  directed 
by  excellent  taste. 

"  I  am  impatient  to  see  the  famous  harbor  of  Sydney," 
Ned  remarked  soon  after  they  started  on  their  drive. 
"  You  know  it  is  the  one  thing  we  have  heard  about  more 
than  any  other." 

"We  will  have  an  opportunity  of  seeing  it  in  two  or 
three  ways,"  the  doctor  remarked.  Then  he  called  to  the 
driver,  and  told  him  to  stop  in  front  of  the  city  hall. 

After  giving  a  hasty  glance  at  the  interior  of  the  build- 
ing, the  partv  climbed  to  the  cupola,  which  is  one  hundred 
and  fifty  feet  above  the  level  of  the  street  below.  From 
their  point  of  observation  they  had  a  fine  view  in  every 
direction.  The  whole  city  was  in  sight,  and  also  a  good 
deal  of  the  surrounding  country.  The  magnificent  har- 
bor,  too,   was  at  their  feet.       Fifteen   miles  to  the  west- 


SIGHTS    OF    SYDNEY.  287 

ward,  they  could  see  the  pretty  town  of  Paramatta,  which 
is  a  favorite  resort  for  Sydney  merry-makers  :  while  to  the 
eastward,  the  broad  line  of  the  Pacific  Ocean  was  spread 
before  their  gaze.  They  remained  there  for  half  an  hour 
or  so  in  the  cupola,  taking  in  the  view  in  general,  and 
also  in  many  of  its  details. 

As  they  were  about  to  descend,  Ned  remarked  that 
the  harbor  fully  met  his  expectations,  and  in  some  points 
exceeded  them.  Afterward  he  wrote  as  follows  in  his 
notebook  :  — 

"  The  harbor  may  be  said  to  consist  of  a  series  of  coves 
or  bays,  uniting  together  in  a  single  body  of  water,  which 
opens  to  the  sea  between  two  promontories,  called  The 
Heads.  Whether  viewed  from  an  elevation  like  that  of 
the  tower  of  the  city  hall,  or  from  points  along  its  shores, 
or  from  the  deck  of  a  vessel  passing  over  it,  Sydney  har- 
bor presents  a  most  admirable  view." 

After  leaving  the  city  hall,  our  friends  drove  to  Cir- 
cular Quay,  whose  character  in  one  respect  is  described 
by  its  name,  as  it  is  of  semicircular  shape,  and  encloses 
the  most  important  of  the  divisions  of  Sydney  harbor. 
Harry  and  Ned  were  unable  to  say  whether  the  amount 
of  shipping  at  Sydney  was  greater  than  that  at  Mel- 
bourne or  not,  but  in  one  thing  thev  were  agreed,  that 
neither  city  had  a  right  to  be  jealous  of  the  other  on  the 
score  of  marine  business.  There  were  ships  of  all  nations 
at  Melbourne,  and  there  were  also  ships  of  all  nations  at 
Sydney.  Sydney  has  the  advantage  of  being  the  ter- 
minus of  most  of  the  great  steamship  lines,  and  conse- 
quently their  vessels   are  in  port  at  Sydney  for  a   longer 


288  THE  LAND  OF  THE  KANGAROO. 

time  than  at  Melbourne.  There  were  great  steamers  of 
the  Orient  line,  of  the  Peninsular  and  Oriental  (familiarly 
known  as  the  "P.  &  O."),  the  French  line,  or  Mes- 
sageries  Maritimes,  the  North  German  Lloyd,  and  other 
lines  of  lesser  note.  There  was  a  steamer  there,  from 
San  Francisco,  and  there  were  several  vessels  belonging 
to  the  Australian  Steam  Navigation  Company. 

As  our  friends  were  looking  at  the  forest  of  masts  and 
funnels,  Harry  was  the  first  to  break  the  silence. 

"You  could  start  from  here,"  he  remarked,  "for 
almost  any  other  part  of  the  world.  You  could  set  out 
for  Greenland's  icy  mountains  or  India's  coral  strand  with 
very  little  ease." 

"  I  don't  know  about  Greenland's  icy  mountains,"  said 
Ned,  "as  I  don't  believe  there  is  any  line  running  to 
them  from  Sydney,  but  the  P.  &  O.  boat  and  several 
other  boats  will  take  you  to  India's  coral  strand ;  of  that 
I  am  sure." 

Circular  Quay  was  formerly  called  Sydney  Cove,  and 
it  was  at  the  head  of  this  little  cove  that  the  first  settle- 
ment was  made.  It  is  the  principal  one  of  the  coves  or 
harbors  where  ships  can  lie,  though  Darling  Cove  is 
nearly  as  important  as  the  one  just  mentioned.  The  sheet 
of  water  into  which  these  coves  open  is  called  Port  Jack- 
son, and  extends  inland  some  twenty  miles  from  The 
Heads.  Islands  of  various  sizes  are  scattered  through 
Port  Jackson,  some  of  them  occupied,  and  some  remaining 
in  a  state  of  nature.  Our  friends  planned,  while  strolling 
about  Circular  Quay,  to  make  an  excursion  up  the  harbor 
as  soon  as  they  could  do  so  conveniently,  and  then,  as  it 


SIGHTS    OF    SYDNEY.  289 

was  getting  pretty  late  in  the  afternoon,  they  returned  to 
their  hotel. 

On  their  arrival  at  the  house  they  met  a  gentleman  to 
whom  they  had  a  letter  of  introduction.  He  had  heard  of 
their  arrival,  and  came  to  hunt  them  up  without  waiting 
for  the  delivery  of  their  letter.  This  circumstance  led 
Harry  to  write  as  follows  in  his  journal :  — 

"Wherever  we  go  we  are  received  with  the  most  open- 
handed  hospitality.  Persons  who  are  entire  strangers  to 
us  are  always  civil,  ready  to  answer  an)-  question  we  ask, 
and  every  one  of  them  seems  quite  willing  to  go  out  of  his 
way  to  serve  us.  We  have  made  the  acquaintance  of  men 
in  railway  trains  and  around  the  hotels,  or  elsewhere,  who 
have  ended  up  a  brief  conversation  by  inviting  us  to  visit 
their  country  places,  their  sheep  or  cattle  stations,  if  they 
have  any,  or  their  business  establishments  in  the  city,  and 
this,  too,  without  knowing  anything  about  us  other  than 
that  we  are  strangers  in  Australia.  Those  to  whom  we 
have  letters  throw  their  houses  open  to  us,  and  in  every 
instance  urge  us  to  a  longer  stay  whenever  we  intimate 
that  we  must  depart.  Those  to  whom  we  are  introduced 
by  these  people  are  equally  courteous  and  equally  ready 
to  show  us  any  hospitality.  The  whole  country  seems 
open  to  us,  and  if  we  could  and  would  accept  half  the  in- 
vitations that  have  been  given  to  us,  we  should  remain  in 
Australia  for  years,  perhaps  for  a  decade  or  two. 

'k  Many  Australians,  some  of  them  born  here  of  English 
parents,  together  with  natives  of  England  who  have  lived 
here  many  years,  complain  that  when  they  go  back  to  the 
old  countrv  they  are  received  very  coldly •      It  is  no  wonder 


290 


THE    LAND    OF    THE    KANGAROO. 


they  feel  that  English  customs  are  very  frigid,  when  they 
contrast  them  with  the  general  kindness  and  liberal  hos- 
pitality that  universally  prevails  throughout  this  island 
continent.  Men  who  have  received  strangers  as  freely  as 
is  the  custom  here,  must  have  a  sensation  of  having  ice 
water  poured  down  their  backs  when  they  go  to  London 
or  New  York,  and  are  greeted  with  the  formality  cus- 
tomary to  those  two  cities. 

"  I  have  been  told  that  it  is  not  infrequently  the  case 
that  an  old  Australian  who  goes  to  England  with  the  in- 
tention of  spending  not  less  than  a  year  there,  is  back  in 
the  antipodes  in  less  than  six  months.  The  cold  formality 
is  not  at  all  to  his  liking,  and,  as  one  man  expressed  it,  he 
feels  as  though  a  southerly  burster  had  dropped  on  him  all 
at  once  ;  and  yet  his  English  friends  are  no  doubt  glad  to 
see  him,  and  have  no  thought  whatever  of  giving  the  least 
offense. 

"They  are  onlv  adhering  to  the  customs  of  centuries, 
and  unless  the}'  themselves  have  been  in  Australia,  which 
is  very  rarely  the  case,  they  cannot  understand  why  the 
stranger  should  feel  that  he  is  being  unkindly  treated.  I 
am  told  that  thirty  years  ago  there  was  the  same  contrast 
between  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific  coasts  of  the  United 
States,  but  since  railways  have  traversed  the  American 
continent,  and  communication  is  made  easier,  the  forms 
of  hospitalitv  of  the  peoples  of  the  two  sections  have  be- 
come pretty  much  the  same. 

"  Of  one  thing  you  may  be  sure  :  we  shall  never  forget 
the  courtesies  that  we  have  received,  and  when  we  leave 
the  shores  of  Australia  we  shall  treasure  long  in  our  mem- 


SIGHTS    OF    SYDNEY. 


29I 


ories  the  warm  hospitality  which  we  have  encountered 
since  the  day  we  first  set  foot  upon  Australian  soil." 

That  evening  the  party  visited  one  of  the  clubs  where 
all  three  were  "put  up"  for  the  time  of  their  stay  in 
Sydney,  their  host  intimating  to  Dr.  Whitney  that,  as  his 
nephews  were  under  age,  they  would  not  be  expected  to 
visit  the  club,  except  in  his  company.  Before  they  had 
been  in  town  twenty-four  hours,  our  friends  had  received 
the  offer  of  the  hospitality  of  no  fewer  than  four  clubs, 
together  with  several  invitations  to  dinner.  The  three 
agreed  that  Sydney  was  certainly  a  very  hospitable  place, 
and  that  a  stranger  suffering  from  indigestion,  or  in  poor 
health,  generally  would  find  it  too  much  for  him. 

The  next  day  our  friends  were  taken  on  a  drive 
through  some  of  the  parks,  of  which  Sydney  has  a  liberal 
supply.  Most  of  the  parks  are  of  considerable  extent, 
one  of  them,  called  the  Domain,  occupying  one  hundred 
acres  of  ground  on  the  shore  of  one  of  the  coves.  Other 
parks  are  projected,  and  it  was  evident  to  Harry  and  Ned 
that  the  authorities  of  Sydney  were  thorough  believers  in 
having  plenty   of  breathing  space    for  the    people. 

The  drive  included  the  Botanical  Gardens,  which  proved 
to  be  full  of  interest.  Nearly  every  plant  and  tree  of  the 
whole  of  Australia  is  represented  in  the  Botanical  Gar- 
dens, and  there  are  many  trees  and  plants  there  from 
other  parts  of  the  world.  Everything  planted  in  these 
gardens  seems  to  thrive,  the  products  of  high  latitudes 
growing  side  by  side  to  those  of  very  low  ones. 

The  Botanical  Gardens  are  not  of  recent  origin,  some 
of    the     trees    they    contain    Inning     been    planted    there 


2Q2  THE  LAND  OF  THE  KANGAROO. 

seventy  or  eighty  years  ago.  Among  these  trees  are 
Norfolk  pines,  which  have  attained  a  height  of  one  hun- 
dred feet,  and  a  diameter  of  five  feet  at  the  base.  Dr. 
Whitney  had  visited  the  pine  forests  of  California,  and 
said  that  the  specimens  in  the  Botanical  Gardens  at  Syd- 
ney reminded  him  of  the  magnificent  trees  of  the  Golden 

State. 

At  one  place  during  their  visit  to  the  gardens  Ned  ob- 
served the  smell  of  musk,  and  looked  around  to  ascertain 
whence  it  came.  The  gentleman  who  accompanied  him 
noted  his  curiosity  and  said  :  — 

"  I  think  you  are  looking  for  the  musk  tree.     Here   it 

is." 

And  there  it  was,  sure  enough.  The  tree  is  a  product 
of  Australia,  and  has  the  peculiarity  of  constantly  giving 
out  the  odor  of  musk,  which  is  perceptible  at  quite  a  dis- 
tance. Ned  asked  if  any  perfume  was  manufactured 
from  the  tree  or  its  leaves,  and  was  answered  in  the 
negative. 

All  the  parks  of  the  city  appeared  to  be  tastefully  laid 
out  and  well  kept.  Ned  recalled  the  numerous  parks 
that  they  saw  at  Melbourne,  and  remarked  that  neither 
city  had  occasion  to  be  jealous  of  the  other  in  the  matter 
of  pleasant  resorts  for  the  people. 

Our  young  friends  asked  if  any  of  the  prisons  or  other 
buildings  that  were  erected  at  the  time  of  the  settlement 
of  Sydney  were  still  in  existence. 

"There  is  hardly  a  trace  of  any  of  them,"  was  the 
reply.  "As  the  city  has  grown,  the  old  buildings  have 
been  destroyed,  to  make  place  for  new  ones  of  a  more  sub- 


SIGHTS    OF    SYDNEY.  293 

stantial  character.  One  of  the  churches  occupies  the  site 
of  the  original  cemetery  which  was  established  soon  after 
the  foundation  of  the  city,  and  a  business  house  covers 
the  ground  where  the  principal  prison  stood.  There  is  no 
desire  on  the  part  of  any  of  us  to  preserve  the  buildings 
of  the  original  settlement,  as  they  recall  unpleasant  mem- 
ories. 

"  We  want  to  forget  as  much  as  we  can,"  he  continued, 
"  all  that  is  disagreeable  in  the  history  of  Sydney,  just  as 
an  individual  usually  wants  to  forget  anything  unpleasant 
about  his  own  origin  or  history.  The  subject  comes  up 
occasionally,  and  we  have  no  squeamishness  about  dis- 
cussing it,  and  the  history  of  the  colony  is  well  known  to 
every  intelligent  inhabitant  of  the  place.  Transportation 
to  this  colony  ceased  about  fifty  years  ago,  and  conse- 
quently there  are  few  men  now  living  in  New  South 
Wales  who  came  here  as  involuntary  emigrants.  The 
old  disputes  between  Emancipists  and  Free  Settlers  were 
ended  long  ago,  and  the  questions  that  greatly  agitated 
the  population  of  the  first  half  of  the  century  have  now 
become  matters  of  history." 

As  the  gentleman  paused,  Harry  thanked  him  for  his 
information,  and  then  asked  if  Port  Jackson  and  Botany 
Bay  were  the  same  thing. 

"They  are  quite  distinct  from  each  other,"  was  the 
reply.  "Botany  Bay  is  situated  a  little  to  the  south  of 
Port  Jackson  and  opens  into  the  Pacific  Ocean.  It  is  a 
singular  circumstance  that  Captain  Cook  missed  the  en- 
trance of  Port  Jackson,  which  he  does  not  seem  to  have 
discovered    at   all.      It  is  only   live   miles  across  the  land 


294 


THE    LAND    OF    THE    KANGAROO. 


from  one  body  of  water  to  the  other,  and  it  is  evident  that 
he  did  not  venture  very  far  inland,  or  he  would  have  found 
Port  Jackson  an  infinitely  better  harbor  than  Botany  Bay. 

"It  was  in  Botany  Bay,"  continued  the  gentleman, 
"  that  the  first  expedition  to  form  a  settlement  in  Australia 
cast  anchor.  Captain  Phillip,  who  commanded  the  ex- 
pedition, and  some  of  his  officers  examined  the  land 
around  Botany  Bay,  and  found  it  quite  unfit  for  a  settle- 
ment. While  making  their  examinations  they  discovered 
Port  Jackson,  and  immediately  perceived  its  superior  ad- 
vantages. The  ships  were  at  once  moved  around  to  this 
harbor,  and  then  the  convicts  and  the  soldiers  who  guarded 
them  were  brought  on  land  for  the  first  time.  But  the 
name  of  Botany  Bay  clung  to  the  settlement  for  a  long 
while,  and  became  a  name  of  terror  to  the  criminal  classes 
of  England." 

"  It  is  a  very  pretty  name  when  divested  of  its  associa- 
tion," remarked  Harry.  "  I  wonder  how  Captain  Cook 
happened  to  hit  upon  it." 

"He  gave  it  that  name,"  was  the  reply,  "on  account 
of  the  great  number  of  flowers  and  flowering  plants  which 
he  found  all  around  the  bay.  Quite  likely  he  would  have 
given  the  same  name  to  Port  Jackson  if  he  had  discovered 
it,  as  there  were  just  as  many  flowers  here  as  at  the  other 
place." 

On  another  day  our  friends  took  a  drive  to  Botany  Bay, 
which  is  only  five  miles  from  Sydney.  They  found  quite 
a  pretty  place,  and  were  not  surprised  to  learn  that  it  is  a 
favorite  resort  of  the  fesidents  of  Sydney.  Their  attention 
was  called  to  the  monument  which  marks  the  spot  where 


SIGHTS    OF    SYDNEY.  295 

Captain  Cook    landed    in    1770,   and    took    possession    of 
Australia  in  the  name  of  the  British  government. 

Another  trip  that  they  made  was  to  Paramatta,  going- 
there  by  rail  and  returning  by  water.  Of  this  excursion 
Harry  wrote  as  follows:  — 

"The  journey  is  a  short  one,  as  Paramatta  is  only  fif- 
teen miles  from  Sydney.  It  is  on  what  they  call  the  Para- 
matta River,  which  isn't  really  a  river,  but  simply  an  arm 
of  the  bay,  and  is  a  favorite  place  for  rowing  races.  Next 
to  Sydney,  it  is  the  oldest  town  in  the  colony.  Governor 
Phillip,  the  first  governor  of  New  South  Wales,  laid  it 
out  in  1788,  his  object  being  to  utilize  the  labors  of  the 
convicts  in  farming.  The  first  grain  fields  were  estab- 
lished here,  being  cultivated  by  convict  labor,  and  the 
governor  had  a  space  of  ground  cleared,  and  a  house 
erected  for  his  country  residence. 

"  The  experiment  of  cultivating  grain  was  so  success- 
ful during  the  first  year,  that  it  was  continued  on  a  larger 
scale  during  the  second  and  subsequent  years.  Free 
settlers  took  up  ground  at  Paramatta,  which  was  then 
called  Rosehill,  the  name  which  the  governor  gave  to 
the  little  elevation  where  his  house  was  built.  Settlers 
who  came  out  to  Sydney  of  their  own  accord  received 
allotments  of  land,  and  were  supplied  with  a  sufficient 
number  of  convicts  to  do  their  work. 

"  These  were  known  as  assigned  servants,  and  the  prac- 
tise of  having  assigned  servants  spread  everywhere  and 
became  very  popular,  as  the  parties  to  whom  the  con- 
victs were  assigned  got  their  labor  for  practically  nothing. 
Sometimes  the  wives  of  convicts  came   out   as   passengers 


296  THE  LAND  OF  THE  KANGAROO. 

in  the  same  ships  with  their  husbands,  or  followed  them 
later.  When  they  arrived  and  set  up  housekeeping,  they 
would  apply  for  servants  to  be  assigned  to  them,  and 
would  name  their  husbands  as  the  men  they  preferred. 
The  plan  was  found  to  work  very  well  in  nearly  all  cases, 
and  the  government  encouraged  the  practise.  Sometimes, 
though,  it  happened  that  the  husbands  were  inclined  to 
abuse  and  beat  their  wives,  but  this  did  not  happen  often, 
as  the  wives  had  the  power,  like  other  employers  of  as- 
signed servants,  of  sending  their  husbands  to  be  flogged. 

"  Whenever,  in  the  early  days,  the  sentence  of  a  con- 
vict expired,  he  was  given  a  farm  at  Paramatta,  or  in  its 
neighborhood,  and  in  this  way  quite  a  farming  community 
grew  up.  The  agricultural  features  of  Paramatta  have 
continued  down  to  the  present  time,  and  all  about  it  there 
are  pretty  farms  and  gardens,  which  make  the  place  look 
very  much  like  an  English  town  of  the  same  size.  It  is 
regularly  laid  out,  the  principal  street  extending  about  a 
mile  back  from  the  landing  place,  with  a  width  of  two 
hundred  feet.  Many  business  men  of  Sydney  have  their 
residences  here,  and  there  is  a  goodly  number  of  public 
buildings,  including  hospitals,  asylums,  churches,  and  the 
like. 

"Our  attention  was  called  to  several  manufactories,  but 
we  were  less  interested  in  them  than  we  were  in  the 
orange  groves  and  orchards,  which  are  numerous  and  ex- 
tensive.  They  showed  us  some  orange  trees  which  they 
claim  are  the  largest  in  the  world,  but  whether  that  is  the 
case  or  not,  I  am  unable  to  say.  They  showed  us  one 
tree  from  which  ten  thousand  oranges  had  been  taken  in 


SIGHTS    OF    SYDNEY.  297 

a  single  year,  and  after  we  had  looked  at  the  orange 
groves,  we  were  shown  through  several  flower  gardens, 
which  seemed  to  be  literally  masses  of  flowers.  When 
we  returned  to  Sydney  by  the  boat,  we  observed  that  the 
banks  of  the  river  were  lined  with  flower  gardens,  and 
were  not  surprised  to  learn  that  almost  the  entire  flower 
market  of  Sydney  is  supplied  from  Paramatta. 

"We  were  unfortunate  in  not  bein<j  here  in  the  season 
of  fruits,  as  they  told  us  that  the  Paramatta  oranges  are 
among  the  finest  in  the  world,  and  the  same  could  be 
said  of  the  other  fruits  grown  in  the  place.  I  think  we 
have  said  before  that  the  climate  of  Australia  is  very 
favorable  to  the  cultivation  of  fruits,  those  of  the  tropics 
as  well  as  those  of  the  temperate  zones  showing  a  uni- 
versal tendency  to  thrive  in  the  genial  atmosphere." 

Dr.  Whitney  and  his  young  companions  spent  two  or 
three  days  at  some  of  the  country  residences  in  the  neigh- 
borhood of  Sydney,  and  were  charmed  with  the  warmth 
of  the  hospitality  and  the  beauty  of  the  places  that  they 
visited.  It  was  impossible  for  them  to  accept  a  tenth  part 
of  the  invitations  they  received,  as  their  time  was  limited, 
and  they  were  anxious  to  press  on  to  the  northward.  So 
one  day  they  bade  farewell  to  their  friends  and  took  the 
train  for  Newcastle,  the  principal  point  of  the  coal-mining 
industry  of  the  colony. 


CHAPTER   XIX. 

COAL     MINES     AT     NEWCASTLE SUGAR     PLANTATION     IN 

QUEENSLAND THE    END. 

"  rT",HE  region  between  Sydney  and  Newcastle,"  wrote 
1  Ned  in  his  journal,  "is  a  diversified  one.  Here 
and  there  are  forests  interspersed  with  open  country. 
Some  of  the  ground  is  level,  and  some  of  it  very  much 
broken  and  mountainous.  Most  of  it  is  fertile,  and  we 
passed  through  many  fields  of  wheat  and  other  grain. 
Some  of  it  is  devoted  to  cattle  raising  and  some  to  the 
production  of  wool,  though  it  is  not  generally  regarded  as 
a  good  country  for  raising  sheep.  In  places  the  moun- 
tains come  quite  close  to  the  sea-coast,  and  there  we  found 
the  railway  winding  over  a  very  tortuous  course,  where 
the  rocks  that  rose  on  either  hand,  and  the  tunnels  through 
which  we  were  occasionally  whirled,  convinced  us  that  the 
building  of  the  railway  must  have  cost  a  great  deal  of 
money.  At  several  places  coal  mining  was  in  progress, 
and  it  was  evident  that  Newcastle  didn't  have  an  entire 
monopoly  of  the  coal-producing  business. 

"  Newcastle  is  quite  as  much  devoted  to  the  coal  busi- 
ness as  the  English  city  from  which  it  was  named.  More 
than  two  million  tons  of  coal  are  shipped  from  this  port 
every  year,  and  the  engineers  who  have  carefully  examined 

the  coal  seams  say  that  there  is  enough  coal  under  New- 

293 


COAL    MIXES    AT    NEWCASTLE.  299 

castle  to  keep  up  the  supply  at  the  present  rate  for  more 
than  live  hundred  years. 

"  We  were  first  taken  to  the  harbor  where  the  shipments 
are  made.  There  we  found  admirable  facilities  for  load- 
ing vessels  with  the  products  of  the  mines.  The}'  claim 
that  they  can  handle  twenty-five  thousand  tons  of  coal 
daily,  and  that  a  good-sized  coal  steamer  can  leave  port 
with  her  cargo  six  hours  after  entering.  I'm  not  an  expert 
in  such  matters,  and  therefore  don't  know,  but  from  what 
I  saw  it  seems  to  me  that  there  is  no  difficulty  about  it. 

"The  harbor  of  Newcastle  was  not  a  very  good  one 
originally,  but  they  have  made  it  so  by  extending  into  the 
sea  a  breakwater,  which  shelters  it  from  the  gales  that 
formerlv  swept  it.  It  is  not  a  large  harbor,  but  an  ex- 
cellent one  for  its  purpose. 

••We  visited  some  of  the  coal  sheds  and  coal  breakers, 
and  went  into  one  of  the  mines.  They  would  gladly 
have  taken  us  through  all  the  mines  in  the  place,  but  as 
one  mine  is  very  much  like  another,  we  declined  to  make 
the  rounds  of  all  of  them.  The  one  that  we  entered  was 
about  four  hundred  feet  underground.  We  were  lowered 
in  a  cage  to  the  bottom  of  the  mine,  and  then  walked 
through  a  tunnel  to  where  the  men  were  at  work,  dodging 
on  our  way  several  loaded  cars  that  were  going  towards 
the  shaft,  as  well  as  empty  ones  coming  from  it.  The 
cars  were  pushed  along  by  men,  each  of  them  carrying 
a  little  lantern  on  the  front  of  his  hat;  in  fact,  every  man 
whom  we  saw  working  underground  had  one  of  these 
lights  for  his  guidance.  The  tunnel  itself  was  lit  up  with 
electric   lights,    extending   from  the    shaft   to   the  front  of 


300  THE  LAND  OF  THE  KANGAROO. 

the  working  ;  and  in  addition  to  these,  each  of  us  carried 
a  lantern,  which  was  of  material  assistance  in  showing  us 
where  to  place  our  feet.  We  had  a  few  stumbles  on  the 
way,  but  nobody  experienced  a  fall. 

"When  we  reached  the  front  of  the  working,  the  sight 
was  a  curious  one.  A  dozen  men  —  I  think  there  must 
have  been  that  number  at  least  —  were  attacking  the  coal 
seam,  most  of  them  lying  on  their  sides  and  digging 
away  with  picks  at  the  lower  part  of  it.  Some  of  them 
had  worked  their  way  in  two  or  three  feet,  and  were 
almost  out  of  sight,  and  I  shuddered  to  think  of  the  possi- 
bility that  the  mass  above  might  fall  upon  and  crush  them. 
I  asked  our  guide  if  this  did  not  happen  sometimes. 

"'Unfortunately,  yes,'  he  replied.  'It  does  happen 
now  and  then,  and  the  men  on  whom  the  coal  falls  are 
more  or  less  severely  injured,  and  perhaps  killed.  We 
have  to  watch  the  miners  constantly,  to  see  that  they  do  not 
run  too  great  a  risk.  If  we  let  them  have  their  own  way, 
accidents  would  be  much  more  frequent  than  they  are.' 

"  '  Why  do  they  burrow  under  the  coal  in  that  way?'  I 
asked.  '  Couldn't  they  get  it  out  in  some  manner  less 
dangerous  than  that?' 

"  '  That  is  the  way  to  which  they  have  been  accustomed,' 
the  guide  answered,  '  and  it  is  difficult  to  get  them  to 
change.  Most  of  these  people  come  from  the  coal- 
mining districts  of  England,  and  they  are  very  conserva- 
tive. Machines  have  been  invented  for  doing  this  kind 
of  work,  and  thev  are  in  use  in  some  of  the  mines,  but 
the  men  are  opposed  to  them,  and  in  some  instances  they 
have  disabled  or  destroyed  the  machines.' 


COAL    MINES    AT    NEWCASTLE.  3OI 

"  Then  he  went  on  to  explain  that  the  miner  makes  an 
opening  below  the  mass  of  coal  in  the  manner  that  we 
saw,  and  then  drills  a  hole  some  distance  above  it,  in 
which  to  explode  a  charge  of  powder.  This  brings  down 
all  the  coal  below  the  locality  of  the  explosion.  Some- 
times it  is  broken  up  into  lumps  that  a  man  can  handle,  and 
sometimes  it  comes  down  in  a  single  block,  which  requires 
another  blast  to  break  it  up,  and  then  the  cars  are  brought 
up  as  near  as  possible.  The  coal  is  loaded  into  them, 
and  pushed  away  to  the  shaft.  Each  man  is  paid  accord- 
ing to  the  amount  of  coal  he  gets  out,  and  some  of  them 
receive  large  wages.  There  are  about  five  thousand  peo- 
ple employed  in  the  coal  mines  here,  and  the  probabilities 
are  that  the  business  will  be  extended,  and  the  coal  prod- 
uct of  Newcastle  increased  within  a  year  or  two  from 
the  present  time." 

From  Newcastle  our  friends  continued  their  journey 
northward  to  Brisbane,  the  capital  of  Queensland.  They 
traveled  all  the  way  by  rail,  changing  trains  at  Stan- 
thorpe,  on  the  frontier.  During  the  delay  subsequent 
upon  the  change  of  trains,  Harry  made  the  following 
memorandum  in  his  notebook  :  — 

"  It  seems  to  me  that  it  is  a  great  misfortune  for  Aus- 
tralia that  each  colony  insists  upon  having  its  own  par- 
ticular gauge  of  track,  thus  preventing  the  running  of 
through  trains  without  change  of  cars.  Some  day  the 
people  will  find  out  their  mistake,  and  I  believe  some  of 
them  realize  it  already.  Dr.  Whitney  says  that  there 
was  at  one  time  in  the  United  States  several  different 
gauges  of  track  from  four  feet,  eight  inches  and  one  half 


3<D2  THE    LAND    OF    THE    KANGAROO. 

up  to  six  feet,  and  that  the  railway  managers  generally- 
agreed  upon  four  feet,  eight  inches  as  the  standard  gauge. 
Since  that  agreement  all  other  tracks  have  been  changed 
to  make  the  tracks  uniform.  Now  any  railway  car  can 
be  run  all  over  the  United  States,  with  the  exceptions  of 
a  few  special  lines  where  the  gauge  is  three  feet,  six 
inches. 

"Three  feet,  six  inches  is  the  gauge  of  the  railways 
of  Queensland.  That  of  New  South  Wales  is  four  feet, 
eight  and  one  half  inches,  while  that  of  Victoria  is  five 
feet,  three  inches.  In  South  Australia  some  of  the  lines 
are  of  five  feet,  three  inches  gauge,  and  others  have  the 
same  gauge  as  the  Queensland  railways.  The  narrow 
gauge  is  especially  adapted  to  mountain  regions,  and  also 
to  thinly  populated  districts.  On  lines  where  the  business 
is  light  and  the  distances  are  not  long,  this  gauge  answers 
all  requirements,  but  on  many  lines,  especially  those  hav- 
ing considerable  business,  it  is  not  at  all  advantageous." 

During  their  railway  ride  our  friends  observed  the 
strange  combination  of  aboriginal  and  English  names, 
and  called  Dr.  Whitney's  attention  to  it.  "  Here  are 
Coolongolook  and  Coonabarabran,"  said  Harry,  "and 
next  come  Clarkeville  and  Smithville.  Here  are  Cootra- 
mundra  and  Illawarra  and  Murrumbidgee  close  by  Orange 
and  Richmond.  Here  are  Curabubula  and  Waggawagga, 
with  Warwrick  and  Union  Camp.  I  could  go  on  indefi- 
nitely with  those  names,  and  it  seems  to  me  that  the  ab- 
original ones  are  about  as  numerous  as  those  of  British 
origin.  They  are  picturesque  and  perhaps  interesting, 
but  they  are  very  difficult  to  pronounce." 


COAL    MINES    AT    NEWCASTLE.  303 

"  Isn't  it  possible  that  you  will  find  the  same  state  of 
things  at  home?"  queried  Dr.  Whitney. 

"  Quite  possible;  I  have  never  thought  of  that.  Let 
me  see." 

"  Why,  certainly,"  said  Ned.  "  Go  to  Maine  and  New 
Hampshire  and  run  over  some  of  the  Indian  names  of 
lakes,  rivers,  mountains,  and  towns  in  those  States.  Think 
of  Kennebec  and  Penobscot,  Winnipesaukee,  Pemige- 
wasset,  Passaconaway,  and  a  good  many  others  that  I  could 
name.  I  think  it  is  an  excellent  policy  to  preserve  these 
old  names  and  not  let  them  die  out.  Piscataqua  is  a  much 
prettier  name  for  a  river  than  Johnston  or  Stiggins,  and 
Monadnock  sounds  better  as  the  name  of  a  mountain  than 
Pike's  Peak  or  Terry's  Cliff.  The  more  the  native  names 
are  preserved,  the  better  I  like  it." 

"  I  agree  with  you,"  replied  Harry;  "  but  I  wish  they 
would  make  the  orthography  of  those  native  names  a  little 
easier.     That's  the  only  fault  I  have  to  find  with  them." 

The  region  through  which  our  friends  traveled  was 
devoted  to  agricultural  and  pastoral  pursuits,  as  the  numer- 
ous flocks  of  sheep,  herds  of  cattle,  and  fields  of  grain  that 
they  saw  gave  evidence.  They  were  told  that  it  was  also 
rich  in  minerals, — the  few  surveys  that  had  been  made 
resulting  in  discoveries  of  gold,  tin,  silver,  antimony,  and 
other  metals.  Some  of  the  passengers  whom  they  met  on 
the  train  were  under  the  impression  that  Dr.  Whitney  was 
looking  for  a  place  in  which  to  invest  money,  and  they 
were  very  anxious  that  he  should  stop  and  investigate  their 
promising  properties.  Several  line  specimens  of  gold- 
bearing    quartz    rock    were    exhibited,    and    the   fortunate 


304  THE  LAND  OF  THE  KANGAROO. 

owners  of  these  specimens  said  that  the  ground  was  cov- 
ered with  them  in  the  locality  where  they  were  obtained. 
Dr.  Whitney  politely  declined  to  delay  his  journey,  and 
assured  his  zealous  acquaintances  that  he  was  not  looking 
for  any  new  investments. 

When  our  friends  were  out  of  earshot  of  the  would-be 
speculators,  Dr.  Whitney  said  that  their  statement  re- 
minded him  of  an  incident  which  once  occurred  at  a  town 
in  California,  where  a  quartz  mill  was  in  successful  opera- 
tion. Harry  and  Ned  pressed  the  doctor  to  give  them  the 
story,  whereupon  he  related  as  follows  :  — 

"  There  were  many  speculative  individuals  around  that 
town  who  were  constantly  endeavoring  to  discover  deposits 
of  ore.  One  day  one  of  these  speculators  was  standing  on 
a  street  corner,  when  a  solemn-faced  Indian  came  along, 
stopped  in  front  of  the  man,  and,  after  looking  around  in 
all  directions  to  make  sure  that  nobody  was  observing  him, 
he  produced  from  under  his  blanket  a  piece  of  gold-bear- 
ing quartz.  Without  saying  a  word,  he  held  the  bit  of 
rock  before  the  eyes  of  the  speculator. 

"  The  speculator  grasped  the  specimen  with  great  eager- 
ness. Sure  enough  it  was  gold-bearing  rock,  and  no  mis- 
take. It  was  generally  believed  in  the  town  that  the 
Indians  knew  of  valuable  deposits,  but  were  very  unwill- 
ing to  divulge  their  location  to  the  white  men." 

"  '  Where  did  you  get  this? '  the  speculator  asked. 

"The  Indian  made  a  sweep  of  his  arm  that  embraced 
two  thirds  of  the  horizon,  but  said  not  a  word. 

"  '  Is  there  any  more  where  this  came  from?'  queried 
the  speculator. 


COAL    MINES    AT    NEWCASTLE.  305 

"'Yes;  heaps,  heaps  more,'  and  the  red  man  made 
a  circle  with  his  arm  that  might  mean  anything  from  a 
mole  hill  to  a  mountain. 

"'Will  you  show  me  where  you  got  this?'  said  the 
speculator. 

"  The  Indian  said  nothing  except  to  pronounce  the 
words  '  five  dollar.' 

"Unlike  many  of  his  associates,  the  speculator  hap- 
pened to  have  some  money  about  him.  He  thrust  his 
hand  into  his  pocket,  drew  out  a  five-dollar  gold  piece, 
and  placed  it  in  the  extended  palm  of  the  red  man. 

"The  latter  examined  the  coin  very  carefully,  even  to 
the  extent  of  biting  it  between  his  teeth.  Then  he  placed 
it  in  some  mysterious  receptacle  under  his  blanket  and 
said  :  — 

"  'You  with  me  come.     You  with  me  go  share.' 

"The  Indian  led  his  new  partner  a  long  walk,  going 
out  of  the  town  on  the  side  opposite  the  quartz  mill,  mak- 
ing a  circuit  of  a  mile  or  two  among  hills,  and  finally 
fetching  up  at  the  dump  pile  of  the  mill.  The  dump  pile, 
it  is  proper  to  explain,  is  the  pile  of  ore  as  it  is  brought 
from  the  mine  to  be  crushed.  Having  reached  the  foot  of 
the  pile,  the  Indian  paused  and  said  :  — 

"  '  Me  get  him  here.     Heaps  more  here,  too.' 

"A  more  disgusted  individual  than  that  speculator  was 
at  that  moment  could  rarely  be  found  in  the  town.  He  had 
been  completely  outwitted,  in  fact,  sold,  and  by  a  savage 
who  couldn't  read  or  write." 

From  Stanthorpe  on  the  frontier  of  Queensland  the 
country  was   much  the  same  as  that  through  which  our 


306  THE  LAND  OF  THE  KANGAROO. 

friends  had  traveled  from  Newcastle,  except  that  its  char- 
acter was  more  tropical  the  further  they  went  northward. 
They  reached  Brisbane  in  the  evening,  and  were  out  im- 
mediately after  breakfast  on  the  following  morning  to  view 
the  sights  of  the  place,  which  were  fewer  than  those  of 
Sydney  and  Melbourne,  as  the  city  is  not  as  large  as  either 
of  the  others  mentioned.  The  entire  population  of  Brisbane 
and  its  suburbs  does  not  exceed  one  hundred  thousand.  It 
is  named  after  Sir  Thomas  Brisbane,  who  was  Governor  of 
the  colony  at  the  time  the  city  was  founded.  In  some 
respects  it  may  be  called  an  inland  city,  as  it  lies  on  a  river 
twenty-five  miles  from  the  entrance  of  that  stream  into 
Moreton  Bay,  which  opens  into  the  Pacific  Ocean.  It  is 
on  a  peninsula  enclosed  by  a  bend  in  the  river,  so  that  it 
has  an  excellent  water  front. 

Harry  made  note  of  the  fact  that  Brisbane  resembles 
Sydney  in  the  narrowness  of  its  streets,  but  he  added  that 
the  surveyors  had  some  excuse  for  restricting  the  amount 
of  land  reserved  for  the  streets,  inasmuch  as  the  space  be- 
tween the  rivers  was  limited.  The  youths  were  reminded 
of  New  York  City  when  they  noted  that  the  streets  of 
Brisbane  ran  from  the  river  on  one  side  to  the  river  on  the 
other,  just  as  do  the  numbered  streets  on  Manhattan  Island. 
They  had  a  further  reminder  when  an  island  in  the  river 
was  pointed  out  to  them  as  the  site  of  a  prison  during  the 
convict  period,  just  as  Blackwell's  Island  of  New  York 
City  is  the  location  of  a  prison  to-day. 

Queen  Street  is  to  Brisbane  as  George  Street  is  to  Syd- 
ney or  Collins  Street  to  Melbourne.  The  principal  shops 
and  several  of  the  public  buildings  are  located  along  Queen 


COAL,    MINKS    AT    NEWCASTLE.  307 

Street,  and  our  friends  observed  that  wide  verandas  ex- 
tended across  the  sidewalks  from  one  end  of  the  street  to 
the  other.  These  verandas  enable  pedestrians  to  walk  in 
the  shade  at  all  times,  a  very  wise  provision  to  avoid  sun- 
stroke. It  must  be  remembered  that  Brisbane  is  consider- 
ably nearer  the  Equator  than  either  Melbourne  or  Sydney, 
and  consequently  has  a  warmer  climate.  Dr.  Whitney 
said  that  he  was  reminded  of  New  Orleans  by  the  temper- 
ature, and  on  inquiry  he  ascertained  that  Brisbane  is  fully 
as  warm  as  the  great  city  near  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi. 

There  is  a  fine  bridge  of  iron  which  crosses  the  river 
between  North  and  South  Brisbane.  It  is  more  than  one 
thousand  feet  long,  and  has  a  draw  in  the  center  to  permit 
the  passage  of  ships.  Ned  and  Harry  strolled  across  this 
bridge  when  they  reached  the  end  of  Queen  Street,  and  on 
arriving  at  its  farther  end  they  turned  around  and  retraced 
their  steps.  When  back  again  in  the  principal  part  of  the 
city,  they  continued  to  the  end  of  the  peninsula,  where  they 
had  expected  to  find  huge  warehouses  and  places  of  busi- 
ness fronting  the  river.  Instead  of  these  edifices  they  found 
the  Botanical  Gardens  and  other  parks  occupying  the  point 
of  land  where  the  river  makes  its  bend.  It  was  an  agree- 
able surprise  to  them,  and  they  remained  in  and  about  the 
gardens  for  an  hour  or  more. 

Whenever  they  came  to  any  of  the  public  buildings 
during  their  stroll,  they  ascertained  the  name  of  each 
edifice  from  some  bv-stander  or  shop-keeper.  They 
observed  that  all  the  buildings  were  handsome  and  of 
good  construction,  with  the  exception  of  the  court  house, 
which  had  a  very  low  and  mean  appearance.     The  curi- 


308  THE  LAND  OF  THE  KANGAROO. 

osity  of  the  youths  was  roused  by  this  circumstance,  and 
Harry  spoke  to  a  good-natured  cab  driver  to  ascertain  how 
it  happened. 

"  That's  easy  to  tell,  when  you  know,"  the  driver  an- 
swered. 

"  Well,"  said  Harry,  "if  you  know,  won't  you  kindly 
tell  us?" 

"  Certainly,  sir,"  the  driver  responded.  "  You  see 
this  is  the  way  of  it.  That  court  house  there  used  to  be 
the  female  prison  in  the  old  times,  and  for  years  it  was 
crowded  with  women  that  the  government  had  sent  out 
here  to  punish  'em.  They  were  lifers,  most  of  'em,  and 
I  suppose  they  are  pretty  near  all  dead  now.  If  an}-  of 
'em  is  alive,  they're  pretty  old.  Them  that  was  kept  in 
prison  had  to  do  hard  work,  making  clothes  and  that 
sort  of  thing,  but  a  good  many  of  'em  went  out  as  assigned 
servants  to  do  housework,  and  they  had  to  work  in  the 
fields,  too ;  but  those  days  is  gone  now,  and  all  the  pris- 
ons we  have  in  Brisbrane  in  these  times  is  for  them  that 
commits  crimes  right  here  on  the  spot." 

"  Do  you  mind  that  round  building  up  there  with  the 
mast  on  it,"  said  the  cab  driver,  pointing  to  a  structure 
that  looked  like  a  windmill  with  the  arms  of  the  mill  re- 
moved. 

"  Yes,  I  see  it,"  said  Harry  ;   "  what  about  it?  " 

"We  call  it  the  Observatory,"'  was  the  reply,  "and 
that's  what  it  is.  That  mast  there  is  for  signaling  ships 
when  they  come  into  the  harbor.  In  the  old  times  there 
was  a  windmill  there,  where  they  used  to  grind  grain  into 
flour  and  meal  for  the  convicts  to  eat,  and  I  guess  other 


COAL    MINES    AT    NEWCASTLE.  309 

folks  ate  it,  too.  When  the  wind  blew  the  arm  went 
round  and  round,  the  machinery  worked,  and  the  stones 
revolved  and  ground  out  the  meal.  Sometimes  they  didn't 
have  no  wind,  because  it  didn't  blow,  but  they  had  a  tread- 
mill there,  and  then  they  used  to  bring  up  a  string  of  con- 
victs, and  put  them  on  the  treadmill  to  run  the  machinery 
and  keep  up  the  grinding  of  the  grain.  I  suppose  you 
know  what  a  treadmill  is?  " 

"  I  have  heard  about  a  treadmill,"  said  Harry,  "  but  I 
never  saw  one."  Ned  nodded,  and  said  that  he  was  in 
the  same  predicament. 

"Well,"  said  the  driver,  "I  have  seen  one  in  the  old 
country ;  I  never  saw  the  one  here,  because  it  was  gone 
before  I  came  to  Brisbane.  What  I  saw  was  a  wheel  in 
the  shape  of  a  long  cylinder  with  twenty-four  steps  around 
the  circumference  of  it;  in  fact,  it  didn't  look  much  un- 
like the  paddle-wheel  of  a  steamboat,  where  the  men  stood 
to  turn  it.  Each  one  of  'em  was  boarded  off  from  his 
neighbor  so  that  they  couldn't  talk  to  each  other.  There 
was  a  hand  rail  for  them  to  hang  on  to.  The  weight  of 
the  prisoners'  bodies  on  the  steps  caused  the  wheel  to 
turn,  and  they  sent  it  around  about  twice  a  minute.  A 
man  on  a  treadmill  has  got  to  work,  he  can't  get  out  of 
it.  If  he  tries  to  avoid  stepping,  he's  got  to  hang  his 
weight  on  the  hand  rail  with  his  arms,  and  after  he  has 
tried  that  for  a  minute  or  so  he's  glad  to  go  back  to  step- 
ping again." 

"  I  should  think,"  said  Ned,  "  that  it  would  be  difficult 
to  adapt  it  to  the  weight  of  different  individuals,  and  also 
to  their  height.     While  it  might  not  be  too  much  for  a 


310  THE    L.AND    OF    THE    KANGAROO. 

strong  man,  it  might  be  for  a  weak  one  ;  and  if  the  posi- 
tion of  steps  and  rail  were  adapted  to  a  tall  man,  they 
wouldn't  be  for  a  short  one." 

"  I  believe  that's  just  the  trouble  they  found  with  it  in 
the  old  country,"  was  the  reply;  "and  it's  mostly  been 
given  up  there.  They've  got  a  machine  in  the  place  of  it 
which  they  call  '  the  Crank,'  which  can  be  adapted  to 
anybody.  It's  a  wheel  with  paddles  to  it,  and  turns  inside 
a  box.  They  put  gravel  in  the  box,  graduated  to  the 
strength  of  the  man  who  is  to  turn  it,  and  the  prisoner's 
hard  labor  consists  in  turning  the  crank." 

"It  doesn't  serve  any  useful  purpose,  as  the  treadmill 
does,  I  presume?"  said  Harry. 

"  No  ;  there  is  no  useful  purpose  about  it.  A  man  has 
to  turn  that  crank  because  he's  been  sentenced  to  hard 
labor,  and  there's  nothing  else  they  can  put  him  to,  that's 
all.  And  they  don't  by  any  means  use  the  treadmill  all 
the  time  for  turning  machinery  and  grinding  grain,  or 
doiug  some  other  work.  Most  of  the  treadmills  I  ever 
knew  anything  about  in  the  old  country  were  just  tread- 
mills, and  that  was  all." 

Our  friends  were  invited  to  visit  a  sugar  plantation  in 
Northern  Queensland.  They  accepted  the  invitation, 
and  one  morning  embarked  on  a  steamer  which  took 
them  in  the  direction  which  they  wished  to  go.  The 
steamer  called  at  several  places  on  the  coast,  including 
Roehampton,  Bowen,  Mackay,  Keppel  Bay,  and  Somer- 
set ;  the  last-named  place  was  their  destination,  and  it  was 
here  that  they  landed. 

"We  utilized  the  time  of  stoppage  at  each  port  by  going 


COAL    MIXES    AT    NEWCASTLE.  311 

on  shore,"  said  Harry  in  his  journal.  "Except  for  the 
exercise  of  the  trip,  we  might  about  as  well  have  staved 
on  board,  as  there  was  very  little  to  be  seen  at  any  of  the 
places.  The  coast  towns  of  Queensland  are  pretty  much 
all  alike.  They  have  from  one  to  two  thousand  inhabi- 
tants each,  and  though  they're  pretentiously  laid  out,  they 
consist  of  little  more  than  a  single  street.  On  the  streets, 
other  than  the  principal  one,  there  are  scattered  houses, 
where  the  owners  of  land  have  endeavored  to  increase  the 
value  of  their  property  by  putting  up  buildings,  but  gener- 
ally with  poor  success.  For  pavement  the  natural  earth 
is  obliged  to  answer,  as  most  of  these  towns  are  too  poor 
to  afford  anything  better.  The  streets  are  very  dusty  in 
dry  weather,  and  very  muddy  after  a  rain.  At  one  of  the 
places  where  we  landed  there  had  been  a  heavy  shower 
the  night  before,  and  the  main  street  was  a  great  lane  of 
mud.  Ned  said  the  street  was  a  mile  long,  eighty  feet 
wide,  and  two  feet  deep ;  at  least,  that  was  his  judgment 
concerning  it. 

"One  thing  that  impressed  us  in  these  towns  was  that 
hardly  a  man  in  any  of  them  had  a  coat  on.  Everybody 
was  in  his  shirt  sleeves,  and  if  he  had  a  coat  with  him, 
he  carried  it  on  his  arm.  For  the  novelty  of  the  thing, 
we  took  dinner  at  a  hotel  in  Mackay,  more  with  a  view  of 
seeing  the  people  that  went  there,  than  with  an  expectation 
of  a  good  meal.  There  wrere  squatters  from  the  back 
country,  planters,  clerks,  merchants,  lawyers,  and  doctors, 
all  with  their  coats  off,  and  we  were  told  that  this  habit 
of  going  without  coats  is  universal.  One  man  who  had 
lived  there  a  good  while  said,  '  You  may  go  to  a  grand 


312  THE  LAND  OF  THE  KANGAROO. 

dinner  party,  and  find  the  ladies  dressed  in  the  height  of 
fashion,  and  the  gentlemen  in  their  shirt  sleeves.'  I  don't 
wonder  that  they  have  adopted  this  plan,  as  the  climate  is 
very  warm.  The  region  is  decidedly  tropical,  the  air  is 
damp  and  oppressive,  and  in  the  daytime  especially  the  heat 
is  almost  insupportable.  I  wonder,  though,  that  they  don't 
adopt  the  white  linen  jacket  for  dinner  purposes,  just  as 
the  Europeans  living  in  China  and  Japan  have  done. 

"  Somerset,  where  we  landed,  is  principally  a  pearl- 
fishing  station,  and  the  pearl  fishers  who  live  there  are  a 
very  rough-looking  lot.  The  business  is  very  profitable, 
those  engaged  in  it  estimating  that  the  pearls  pay  all  the 
expenses  of  their  enterprise  and  a  little  more,  while  the 
nacre,  or  mother-of-pearl,  the  smooth  lining  of  the  shells, 
is  a  clear  profit.  The  exportation  of  shells  from  Queens- 
land is  worth,  annually,  about  half  a  million  dollars.  The 
pearl  shells  sell  ordinarilv  for  about  one  thousand  dollars 
a  ton.  They  are  gathered  by  black  divers  under  the 
superintendence  of  white  men. 

"  These  white  men  own  the  sloops  and  schooners  de- 
voted to  the  pearl  fishery,  and  they  go  out  with  these  craft, 
taking  along  a  lot  of  black  men  as  divers.  The  diving  is 
done  in  the  same  way  as  in  pearl  fisheries  all  over  the 
world,  so  that  there  is  no  necessity  of  describing  it.  The 
shells  are  like  large  oyster  shells  ;  in  fact,  they  are  oyster 
shells  and  nothing  else.  They  are  about  twenty  inches 
long,  and  from  twelve  to  fifteen  inches  from  one  side  to 
the  other;  so,  you  see,  it  doesn't  take  many  oysters  to 
make  a  load  for  a  diver.  The  divers  are  paid  according 
to  the   number  of   shells    they   gather,   and   not  by   fixed 


COAL    MINES    AT    NEWCASTLE.  313 

wages.  A  man  familiar  with  the  business  said,  that  if 
you  paid  the  men  regular  wages,  you  would  be  lucky 
if  you  got  one  dive  out  of  them  daily. 

"  I  tried  to  ascertain  the  value  of  some  of  the  pearls 
obtained  here,"  continued  Harry,  "but  my  information 
was  not  very  definite.  They  told  me  that  several  pearls 
worth  rive  thousand  dollars  each  had  been  taken,  but  they 
were  not  very  common,  the  value  ordinarily  running  from 
a  few  dollars  up  to  one  hundred  or  two  hundred  dollars 
each.  My  informant  said  that  the  best  pearls  were  found  on 
the  coast  of  West  Australia,  but  that  the  fishery  in  that  lo- 
cality was  more  dangerous  than  on  the  coast  of  Queensland. 
He  said  that  the  sea  in  that  locality  was  subject  to  hurri- 
canes, and  sometimes  an  entire  fleet  of  pearl-fishing  boats 
would  be  overwhelmed  and  sunk,  hardly  a  man  escaping. 
"These  disasters,"  he  said,  "  do  not  deter  those  who  sur- 
vive from  taking  the  risk  over  again,  and  there  are  always 
plenty  of  black  men  who  go  out  as  divers  there  whenever 
a  boat  is  ready  to  start." 

To  go  to  the  sugar  plantation  to  which  our  friends  were 
invited,  the}-  had  to  make  a  journey  inland,  in  a  wagon 
over  a  rough  road  about  forty  miles  long.  The  planta- 
tion was  located  on  both  sides  of  a  small  river,  and  em- 
ployed, at  the  time  of  their  visit,  about  one  hundred  and 
fifty  men.  One  of  the  owners  was  there,  and  exerted 
himself  to  his  fullest  ability  to  make  the  strangers  com- 
fortable and  have  them  see  all  that  was  to  be  seen.  They 
visited  the  crushing  mills  and  the  boiling  rooms,  and 
learned  a  great  deal  about  the  process  of  manufacturing 
sugar  from  the  sugar  cane. 


314  THE  LAND  OF  THE  KANGAROO. 

"  We  may  say  briefly,"  said  Ned,  "  that  the  cane-stalks 
are  crushed  between  rollers,  and  the  juice  is  caught  in 
vats,  whence  it  flows  in  troughs  or  pipes  to  the  evaporating 
house.  Here  it  is  boiled  till  it  is  reduced  to  syrup,  and 
then  it  is  boiled  again,  until  it  is  ready  for  granulation. 
Then  it  is  placed  in  perforated  cylinders  which  revolve 
with  tremendous  rapidity.  By  means  of  centrifugal  force 
all  the  moisture  is  expelled  and  the  dry  sugar  remains 
behind." 

Our  friends  visited  the  fields  where  the  luxuriant  cane- 
stalks  wTere  growing,  but  they  were  quite  as  much  inter- 
ested in  the  men  they  saw  at  work  there  as  in  the  fields 
themselves.  Harry  remarked  that  the  men  seemed  to  be 
different  from  any  of  the  Australian  blacks  they  had  yet 
seen  in  their  travels. 

"These  are  not  Australian  blacks  at  all,"  said  their 
guide  ;   "  they  are  foreigners." 

"  Foreigners  !     Of  what  kind  ?  " 

"They  are  South  Sea  Islanders  principally  from  the 
Solomon  Islands ;  some  of  them  are  from  the  New  Heb- 
rides and  some  from  the  Kingsmill  group." 

"You  import  them  to  work  on  the  plantations,  I  sup- 
pose?" 

"  Yes  ;  that's  the  way  of  it.  You  see  this  country  is  too 
hot  for  white  men  to  work  in  the  field,  just  as  your  sugar- 
growing  States  in  America  are  too  hot  for  him  to  work  in. 
The  blacks  are  the  only  people  that  can  stand  it,  and  as 
for  the  Australian  blacks,  they're  no  good.  There  are  not 
enough  of  them  anyway,  and  even  if  there  were,  we  couldn't 
rely  upon  them.      An  Australian  black  will  never  stay  in 


COAL    MIXES    AT    NEWCASTLE.  315 

one  place  for  any  length  of  time,  as  you  have  doubtless 
learned  already.  lie  is  liable  to  quit  at  any  moment,  and 
that  sort  of  thing  we  can't  stand  on  a  sugar  plantation.  We 
must  have  men  to  work  steadily,  and  the  only  way  we  can 
get  them  is  by  hiring  them  under  contract  from  some  of  the 
Pacific  Islands." 

"  I  think  I  have  read  about  that  somewhere,"  remarked 
Harry.  "You  send  small  ships  out  among  the  islands  to 
pick  up  the  men,  and  the  business  is  called  '  black-birding,' 
is  it  not?" 

"  Yes,  that  is  the  name  of  it,  or  rather  used  to  be,"  was 
the  reply.  "  Black-birding,"  along  in  the  seventies,  was 
an  outrageous  piece  of  business  no  better  than  slave-stealing 
on  the  coast  of  Africa.  In  fact,  it  was  slave-stealing  and 
nothing  else.  A  schooner  would  appear  off  an  island, 
drop  anchor  and  wait  for  the  natives  to  come  out  in  their 
canoes,  which  they  were  sure  to  do.  Then  forty  or  fifty  of 
them  would  be  enticed  on  board,  and  perhaps  invited  one 
by  one  into  the  cabin,  whence  a  door  had  been  cut  through 
into  the  hold.  They  were  shoved  along  one  by  one  until 
a  sufficient  number  had  been  obtained  and  imprisoned  be- 
low, and  then  the  schooner  set  sail  and  left  the  island. 

"Sometimes  one  of  the  officers  was  dressed  up  like  a 
clergyman,  with  a  white  necktie,  broad-brimmed  hat,  and 
blue  spectacles,  and  wrapped  in  a  long  black  cloak.  He 
carried  a  large  book  under  his  arm,  and  was  a  very  good 
counterfeit  of  a  missionary.  He  was  rowed  to  the  shore, 
where  he  would  inform  the  natives  that  their  old  friend, 
Rev.  Dr.  Williams,  was  on  board  the  vessel  and  would 
like  to  see  them,  and  he  would  very  much  like  some  fresh 


316  THE  LAND  OF  THE  KANGAROO. 

fruit.  He  explained  the  doctor's  failure  to  come  on  shore 
by  saying  that  he  had  fallen  on  deck  and  broken  his  leg 
the  day  before,  and  was  then  confined  to  his  cabin. 

"The  natives  would  hasten  to  gather  a  large  supply  of 
fruit  and  take  it  on  board  the  schooner.  Their  fruit  was 
piled  on  deck,  and  one  by  one  they  were  taken  below, 
ostensibly  to  see  their  disabled  friend,  but  really  to  shove 
them  forward  into  the  hold  in  the  manner  I  have  described. 
When  a  sufficient  number  had  been  entrapped  the  schooner 
sailed  away,  and  there  was  little  probability  that  the  de- 
ceived natives  would  ever  see  their  island  again. 

"  That  was  the  method  formerly  in  vogue  for  supplying 
labor  to  the  sugar  plantations  in  Queensland.  The  matter 
became  so  notorious  that  the  government  investigated  it  and 
put  a  stop  to  '  black-birding.'  At  present  the  business  of 
obtaining  men  from  the  Pacific  Islands  is  fairly  well  con- 
ducted. On  every  ship  that  goes  out  for  that  purpose  there 
is  a  government  officer  whose  duty  it  is  to  see  that  no  de- 
ception or  trickery  is  practised,  and  that  the  contracts  with 
the  natives  are  fully  understood  on  both  sides  before  they 
are  signed. 

"We  hire  these  people  for  three  years,  and  when  that 
period  has  expired  we  are  obliged  to  return  them  to  their 
homes.  Formerly,  they  had  the  option  of  renewing  their 
contracts  here  without  going  awa}r,  and  a  good  many 
planters  were  careful  to  see  that  the  men  were  heavily  in 
debt  at  the  expiration  of  their  term  of  service,  so  that  they 
would  be  obliged  to  engage  again  in  order  to  get  them- 
selves out  of  debt,  which  they  never  did.  Now  the  gov- 
ernment regulation  forbids  the  renewal  of  a  contract  here, 


COAL    MINES    AT    NEWCASTLE.  3 1  7 

and  in  order  to  have  the  agreement  a  valid  one,  it  must  be 
made  in  the  island  whence  the  man  was  brought.  Of 
course  this  is  a  hardship  where  a  man  really  does  not 
want  to  go  home,  but,  on  the  whole,  it  is  for  the  best." 

Harry  asked  how  they  managed  to  get  along  with  the 
natives  of  the  different  islands,  and  if  they  proved  to  be 
good  laborers. 

"As  to  that,"  was  the  reply,  "there  is  a  great  deal  of 
difference  among  them.  The  most  of  them  are  indus- 
trious and  do  fairly  well,  but  nearly  all  need  a  little 
urging.  We  don't  flog  them,  as  flogging  is  forbidden  by 
law,  but  the  overseers  generally  carry  long,  supple  sticks 
which  they  know  how  to  handle.  They  have  to  be  care- 
ful, though,  in  using  these  sticks,  as  some  of  the  Kanakas, 
as  we  call  the  South  Sea  Islanders,  are  revengeful,  and 
they're  very  handy  with  knives. 

"The  men  from  the  Solomon  Islands  are  the  worst  to 
deal  with,  as  they  have  ugly  dispositions  :  they  are  in- 
clined to  resent  what  they  believe  to  be  an  insult,  and  they 
are  a  strong,  wiry  race.  They  are  quarrelsome  among 
themselves,  and  probably  their  tendency  to  quarrel  is  in- 
creased by  the  fact  that  many  of  them  are  cannibals. 
Sometimes  we  miss  one  of  these  fellows,  and  though  we 
hunt  everywhere,  it  is  impossible  to  find  him.  There  are 
vague  rumors  that  he  has  been  eaten  by  his  friends.  The 
whole  business  is  carefully  concealed  from  us,  and  it  is 
very  rarely  the  case  that  we  are  able  to  get  at  the  facts. 
It  generally  turns  out,  when  we  ascertain  anything  about 
it,  that  the  man  was  killed  in  a  fight,  and  was  then  cooked 
and  eaten,  to  prevent  his  being  wasted." 


318  THE  LAND  OF  THE  KANGAROO. 

Harry  remarked  that  the  Solomon  Islanders,  as  he  saw 
them  on  the  plantation,  were  not  a  prepossessing  lot  of 
people,  and  he  would  not  care  to  be  among  them  even  for 
a  single  day. 

The  natives  of  the  Kingsmill  group  were  much  more 
attractive  in  their  appearance,  but  even  they  were  nothing 
to  be  fond  of.  On  the  whole,  neither  of  the  youths  took 
a  liking  to  the  laborers  on  the  sugar  plantation,  and  as 
the  place  was  said  to  be  infested  with  snakes,  they  were 
quite  willing  to  cut  their  visit  short  and  return  to  the  coast. 


THE    END. 


IV.  A.    Wilde  &  Co.,  Publishers. 


0 


ABOVE     THE    RANGE.      A    Story  for    Girls.      By 
^±      Theodora  R.  Jenness.    315  pp.    Illustrated.      Cloth.     i2mo. 
$1.25. 

An  Indian  story  for  girls.  A  mission  school  for  the  daughters  of  the  Dakota  tribes 
is  most  interestingly  described.  The  strange  ideas  and  beliefs  of  these  wild  people  are 
woven  into  the  thread  of  the  story,  which  tells  how  a  little  white  girl  was  brought  up  as 
an  Indian  child,  educated  at  a  mission  school,  and  was  finally  discovered  by  her  parents. 

nERARH,  THE  LITTLE  VIOLINISTE.    By  Mrs.  C. 
^J     V.  Jamison.     298  pp.     Illustrated.     Cloth,  $1.50. 

A  most  charming  and  delightful  story  of  a  little  girl  who  had  inherited  a  most  re- 
markable musical  talent,  which  found  its  natural  expression  through  the  medium  of  the 
violin.  The  picturesqueness  of  Mrs.  Jamison's  stories  is  remarkable,  and  the  reader 
unconsciously  becomes  Seraph's  friend  and  sympathizer  in  all  her  trials  and  triumphs. 

RCUTT  GIRLS;    or,    One  Term  at  the  Academy.     By 
Charlotte  M.  Vaile.     316  pp.     Illustrated.     Cloth,  $1.50. 

Mrs.  Vaile  gives  us  a  storv  here  which  will  become  famous  as  a  description  of  phase 
of  New  England  educational' history  which  has  now  become  a  thing  of  the  past  —  with 
an  exception  here  and  there.  The  Academy,  once  the  pride  and  boast  of  our  fathers, 
has  given  way  to  the  High  School,  and  girls  and  bovs  of  to-day  know  nothing  of  the 
experiences  which  "  The  Orcutt  Girls  "  enjoyed  in  their  "  One  Term  at  the  Academy. 

]\/[AL  VERN.    A  Neighborhood  Story.     By  Ellen  Douo 

IrJ-       las  Deland.     341pp.     Illustrated.     Cloth,  $1.50. 

A  most  attractive  and  interesting  story  by  a  writer  who  has  won  a  vast  audience  of 
young  people  by  her  stories.  Malvern  is  a  small  suburban  town  in  New  Jersey.  The 
neighborhood  furnishes  a  queer  assortment  of  boys  and  girls.  How  they  felt  and  acted, 
what  they  did,  and  how  they  did  it,  forms  an  interesting  narrative. 

AD  Y  BETTY'S  TWINS.     By  E.  M.  Waterworth. 

With  12  illustrations.      116  pp.      Cloth,   75  cents. 

A  quaint  little  story  of  a  girl  —  a  little  girl  —  who  had  a  propensity  for  getting  into 
trouble,  because  she  had  not  learned  the  lesson  of  obedience.     She  masters  u 
ever  as  the  story  tells,  and  in  doing  so  she  and  her  brother  have  a  number  of  expeni 


L 


r'HE  MOONSTONE  RING.     By  Jennie  Chaitell. 
With  6  full-page  illustrations.      116  pp.      Cloth,  75  cents. 

\n  old  ring  plavs  an  important  part  in  this  charming  little  story.     It  brings  I 
a  spoiled  child,  the' granddaughter  of  a  rich  and  indulgent  old  lady,  and  a  happy  little 
family  of  three,  who,    though  poor,  are  contented  with  their  lot.     I  his  acquaintance 
proves  to  be  of  mutual  advantage. 

rHE  MARJORIE  BOOKS.    6  vols.    Edited  by  Lucy 
Wheelock.     About  200  illustrations.     Price  of  set,  $1.50. 

A  new  set  of  books  for  the  little  ones,  better,  if  possible,  thati  even  Dot's  Library, 
which  has  been  so  popular.     Full  of  pictures,  short  stories,  and  bus  of  poetry. 

Boston:  W.  A.   Wilde  &>  Co.,  2j  Brom 'field  Street. 


W.  A.  Wilde  &>  Co.,  Publishers. 


WAR  OF  THE  REVOLUTION  SERIES. 

By  Everett  T.  Tomlinson. 

HREE  COLONIAL  BOYS.     A  Story  of  the  Times 
o/,y6.     368  pp.     Illustrated.     Cloth,  $1.50. 


r 


It  is  a  story  of  three  boys  who  were  drawn  into  the  events  of  the  times;  is  patriotic, 
exciting,  clean,  and  healthful,  and  instructs  without  appearing  to.  The  heroes  are 
manly  boys,  and  no  objectionable  language  or  character  is  introduced.  The  lessons  of 
courage  and  patriotism  especially  will  be  appreciated  in  this  day.  —  Bosto?i  Transcript. 

rHREE  YOUNG  CONTINENTALS.   A  Story  of  the 
American  Revolution.     364  pp.     Illustrated.     Cloth,  $1.50. 

The  second  volume  of  the  Jl'ar  0/ the  Revolution  Series  gives  a  vivid  and  accurate 
picture  of,  and  the  part  which  our  "Three  Colonial  Boys"  took  in,  the  events  which  led 
up  to  the  "  Battle  of  Long  Island,"  which  was  thought  at  the  time  to  be  a  crushing  defeat 
for  the  Continental  Army,  but  which  in  fact  was  the  means  of  arousing  the  Colonies  to 
more  determined  effort. 

* V* OTHER   I  'OL  UMES  IN  PRE  PA  RA  TION. 


I 


TRAVEL  ADVENTURE  SERIES. 

By  Col.  Thos.  W.  Knox. 

N    WLLD   A  ERICA.     Adventures  of  Too  Boys  in  the 

Sahara  Desert.    325  pp.     Illustrated.     Cloth,  $1.50. 

This  story  is  a  fascinating  and  instructive  one,  and  we  cheerfully  commend  the  book 
to  parents  and  teachers  who  have  the  responsibility  of  choosing  the  reading  for  young 
readers.  —  Tlie  Religious  Telescope,  Dayton. 

r  HE  LAND  OF  THE  KANGAROO.  Adventures  of 
Two  Boys  in  the  Great  Island  Continent.  31S  pp.  Illustrated. 
Cloth,  $1.50. 
The  late  Col.  Thos.  W.  Knox  was  a  famous  traveler  and  writer  of  boys'  books  of 
travel  and  adventure.  His  last  book  (finished  only  ten  days  before  his  sudden  death) 
describes  a  portion  of  the  world  in  which  he  took  a  \ast  interest,  and  of  which  little  is 
known  in  this  country.  Australia,  the  great  island  continent,  the  land  of  the  kangaroo, 
and  a  country  of  contradictions,  is  most  interestingly  described. 

***OTHER  VOLUMES  IN  THIS  SERIES  ANNOUNCED  LA  TER. 


r\  UARTERDECK  £>>  EOK'SLE.  By  Molly  Elliot 
q^/  Seawell,  author  of  "  Decatur  and  Somers,"  etc.  272  pp. 
^^-    Illustrated.     $1.25. 

Miss  Seawell  is  exceptionally  gifted  in  the  line  of  instructing  and  amusing  young 
people  at  the  ante  time,  and  many  a  boy  pricks  up  his  ears  at  the  sound  of  her  name,  in 
the  hope  of  another  of  her  lively,  and  at  the  same  time  instructive  and  high-spirited 
volumes.  This  one  will  sustain  her  reputation  well,  and  will  be  read  with  eager 
interest.  —  Congrcgationalist,  Boston. 

Boston  :  W.  A.  Wilde  &>  Co.,  23  Brom field  Street. 


